Sample records for galaxy m82 faint

The results are given of spectral observations of the peculiar galaxyM82. A study is made of the splitting of the emission lines in the southern filaments, and the electron density in the gaseous clouds which compose them is found. For six positions the radial velocity curves are determined. New data enable us to return to the explanation of the polarization observed in filaments as due to the scattering of the radiation of the central regions by dust and free electrons.

12CO J = 1-0, 2-1, 4-3, 7-6, and 13CO 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 line emission was mapped with angular resolutions of 13'' - 22'' toward the nuclear region of the archetypical starburst galaxyM82. There are two hotspots on either side of the dynamical center, with the south-western lobe being slightly more prominent. Lobe spacings are not identical for all transitions: For the submillimeter CO lines, the spacing is ~ 15''; for the millimeter lines (CO J = 2-1 and 1-0) the spacing is ~ 26'', indicating the presence of a `low' and a `high' CO excitation component. A Large Velocity Gradient (LVG) excitation analysis of the submillimeter lines leads to inconsistencies, since area and volume filling factors are almost the same, resulting in cloud sizes along the lines-of-sight that match the entire size of the M82 starburst region. Nevertheless, LVG column densities agree with estimates derived from the dust emission in the far infrared and at submillimeter wavelengths. 22'' beam averaged total column densities are N(CO) ~ 5 1018 and N(H_2) ~ 1023 \\cmsq; the total molecular mass is a few 108 \\solmass. Accounting for high UV fluxes and variations in kinetic temperature and assuming that the observed emission arises from photon dominated regions (PDRs) resolves the problems related to an LVG treatment of the radiative transfer. Spatial densities are as in the LVG case (\

Although Galactic cosmic rays (protons and nuclei) are widely believed to be mainly accelerated by the winds and supernovae of massive stars, definitive evidence of this origin remains elusive nearly a century after their discovery. The active regions of starburst galaxies have exceptionally high rates of star formation, and their large size-more than 50 times the diameter of similar Galactic regions-uniquely enables reliable calorimetric measurements of their potentially high cosmic-ray density. The cosmic rays produced in the formation, life and death of massive stars in these regions are expected to produce diffuse γ-ray emission through interactions with interstellar gas and radiation. M82, the prototype small starburst galaxy, is predicted to be the brightest starburst galaxy in terms of γ-ray emission. Here we report the detection of >700-GeV γ-rays from M82. From these data we determine a cosmic-ray density of 250eVcm-3 in the starburst core, which is about 500 times the average Galactic density. This links cosmic-ray acceleration to star formation activity, and suggests that supernovae and massive-star winds are the dominant accelerators.

Observations of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies show that dense molecular gas correlates with recent star formation, suggesting that the formation of this gas phase may help regulate star formation. A key test of this idea requires wide-area, high-resolution maps of dense molecular gas in galaxies to explore how local physical conditions drive dense gas formation, but these observations have been limited because of the faintness of dense gas tracers like HCN and HCO{sup +}. Here we demonstrate the power of the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT)—the largest single-dish millimeter radio telescope—for mapping dense gas in galaxies by presenting the most sensitive maps yet of HCN and HCO{sup +} in the starburst galaxyM82. The HCN and HCO{sup +} in the disk of this galaxy correlates with both recent star formation and more diffuse molecular gas and shows kinematics consistent with a rotating torus. The HCO{sup +} emission extending to the north and south of the disk is coincident with the outflow previously identified in CO and traces the eastern edge of the hot outflowing gas. The central starburst region has a higher ratio of star formation to dense gas than the outer regions, pointing to the starburst as a key driver of this relationship. These results establish that the GBT can efficiently map the dense molecular gas at 90 GHz in nearby galaxies, a capability that will increase further with the 16 element feed array under construction.

The Hubble Space Telescope observations of the nearby galaxy group M81/M82 and its vicinity indicate that the dynamics of the expansion outflow around the group is dominated by the antigravity of the dark energy background. The local density of dark energy in the area is estimated to be near the global dark energy density or perhaps exactly equal to it. This conclusion agrees well with our previous results for the Local Group vicinity and the vicinity of the Cen A/M83 group.

M82 X-1, the brightest X-ray source in the galaxyM82, has been thought to be an intermediate-mass black hole (100 to 10,000 solar masses) because of its extremely high luminosity and variability characteristics, although some models suggest that its mass may be only about 20 solar masses. The previous mass estimates were based on scaling relations that use low-frequency characteristic timescales which have large intrinsic uncertainties. For stellar-mass black holes, we know that the high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (100-450 hertz) in the X-ray emission that occur in a 3:2 frequency ratio are stable and scale in frequency inversely with black hole mass with a reasonably small dispersion. The discovery of such stable oscillations thus potentially offers an alternative and less ambiguous means of mass determination for intermediate-mass black holes, but has hitherto not been realized. Here we report stable, twin-peak (3:2 frequency ratio) X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations from M82 X-1 at frequencies of 3.32 ± 0.06 hertz and 5.07 ± 0.06 hertz. Assuming that we can extrapolate the inverse-mass scaling that holds for stellar-mass black holes, we estimate the black hole mass of M82 X-1 to be 428 ± 105 solar masses. In addition, we can estimate the mass using the relativistic precession model, from which we get a value of 415 ± 63 solar masses. PMID:25132552

We present a photometric study of star clusters in the nearby starburst galaxyM82 based on the UBVI-, YJ- and H-band Hubble Space Telescope images. We find 1105 star clusters with V < 23 mag. Of those, 1070 are located in the disk region, while 35 star clusters are in the halo region. The star clusters in the disk are composed of a dominant blue population with a color peak at (B - V){sub 0} Almost-Equal-To 0.45, and a weaker red population. The luminosity function of the disk clusters shows a power-law distribution with a power-law index {alpha} = -2.04 {+-} 0.03, and the scale height of their distribution is h{sub z} = 9.''64 {+-} 0.''40 (164 {+-} 7 pc), similar to that of the stellar thin disk of M82. We have derived the ages of {approx}630 star clusters using the spectral energy distribution fit method by comparing UBVI(YJ)H-band photometric data with the simple stellar population models. The age distribution of the disk clusters shows that the most dominant cluster population has ages ranging from 100 Myr to 1 Gyr, with a peak at about 500 Myr. This suggests that M82 has undergone a disk-wide star formation about 500 Myr ago, probably through the interaction with M81. The brightest star clusters in the nuclear region are much brighter than those in other regions, indicating that more massive star clusters are formed in the denser environments. On the other hand, the colors of the halo clusters are similar to those of globular clusters in the Milky Way, and their ages are estimated to be older than 1 Gyr. These are probably genuine old globular clusters in M82.

We have followed up on the results of a 65 deg{sup 2} CFHT/MegaCam imaging survey of the nearby M81 Group searching for faint and ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. The original survey turned up 22 faint candidate dwarf members. Based on two-color HST ACS/WFC and WFPC2 photometry, we now confirm 14 of these as dwarf galaxy members of the group. Distances and stellar population characteristics are discussed for each. To a completeness limit of M{sub r{sup '}}= -10, we find a galaxy luminosity function slope of –1.27 ± 0.04 for the M81 Group. In this region, there are now 36 M81 Group members known, including 4 blue compact dwarfs; 8 other late types including the interacting giants M81, NGC 3077, and M82; 19 early type dwarfs; and at least 5 potential tidal dwarf galaxies. We find that the dSph galaxies in M81 appear to lie in a flattened distribution, similar to that found for the Milky Way and M31. One of the newly discovered dSph galaxies has properties similar to the ultra-faint dwarfs being found in the Local Group with a size R{sub e} ∼ 100 pc and total magnitude estimates M{sub r{sup '}}= -6.8 and M{sub I} ∼ –9.1.

X-ray observations have shown that the chemical abundance in the starburst galaxyM82 is quite rich in Si and S compared to oxygen. Such an abundance pattern cannot be explained with any combination of conventional Type I and II supernova yields. In addition, the energy-to-heavy-element mass ratio of the observed hot plasma is much higher than the value resulting from normal supernovae. We calculate abundances for explosive nucleosynthesis in core-collapse hypernovae and show that the abundance pattern and the large ratio between the energy and the heavy-element mass can be explained with hypernova nucleosynthesis. Such hypernova explosions are expected to occur for stars more massive than >~20-25 Msolar, and they likely dominate the starburst, because the time since the starburst in M82 is estimated to be as short as ~106-107 yr. We also investigate pair-instability supernovae (~150-300 Msolar) and conclude that the energy-to-heavy-element mass ratio in these supernovae is too small to explain the observation.

We report on the discovery of SN 2014J in the nearby galaxyM82. Given its proximity, it offers the best opportunity to date to study a thermonuclear supernova over a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Optical, near-IR and mid-IR observations on the rising lightcurve, orchestrated by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF), show that SN 2014J is a spectroscopically normal Type Ia supernova, albeit exhibiting high-velocity features in its spectrum and heavily reddened by dust in the host galaxy. Our earliest detections start just hours after the fitted time of explosion. We use high-resolution optical spectroscopy to analyze the dense intervening material and do not detect any evolution in the resolved absorption features during the lightcurve rise. Similarly to other highly reddened Type Ia supernovae, a low value of total-to-selective extinction, R (sub V) less than or approximately equal to 2, provides the best match to our observations. We also study pre-explosion optical and near-IR images from HST with special emphasis on the sources nearest to the SN location.

We report on the discovery of SN 2014J in the nearby galaxyM82. Given its proximity, it offers the best opportunity to date to study a thermonuclear supernova (SN) over a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Optical, near-IR, and mid-IR observations on the rising light curve, orchestrated by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory, show that SN 2014J is a spectroscopically normal Type Ia supernova (SN Ia), albeit exhibiting high-velocity features in its spectrum and heavily reddened by dust in the host galaxy. Our earliest detections start just hours after the fitted time of explosion. We use high-resolution optical spectroscopy to analyze the dense intervening material and do not detect any evolution in the resolved absorption features during the light curve rise. Similar to other highly reddened SNe Ia, a low value of total-to-selective extinction, R{sub V} ≲ 2, provides the best match to our observations. We also study pre-explosion optical and near-IR images from Hubble Space Telescope with special emphasis on the sources nearest to the SN location.

We report on the discovery of SN 2014J in the nearby galaxyM82. Given its proximity, it offers the best opportunity to date to study a thermonuclear supernova (SN) over a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Optical, near-IR, and mid-IR observations on the rising light curve, orchestrated by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory, show that SN 2014J is a spectroscopically normal Type Ia supernova (SN Ia), albeit exhibiting high-velocity features in its spectrum and heavily reddened by dust in the host galaxy. Our earliest detections start just hours after the fitted time of explosion. We use high-resolution optical spectroscopy to analyze the dense intervening material and do not detect any evolution in the resolved absorption features during the light curve rise. Similar to other highly reddened SNe Ia, a low value of total-to-selective extinction, RV

We examine the properties of the diffuse hard X-ray emission in the classic starburst galaxyM82. We use new Chandra ACIS-S observations in combination with reprocessed archival Chandra ACIS-I and XMM-Newton observations. We find that E~6.7 keV Fe Heα emission is present in the central |r|<200 pc, |z|<100 pc of M82 in all data sets, in addition to a possibly nonthermal X-ray continuum and marginally significant E=6.4 keV Fe Kα line emission. No statistically significant Fe emission is found in the summed X-ray spectra of the pointlike X-ray sources or the ULXs in the two epochs of Chandra observation. The total nuclear region iron line fluxes in the 2004 April 21 XMM-Newton observation are consistent with those of the Chandra-derived diffuse component, but in the 2001 May 6 XMM-Newton observation they are significantly higher and also both E=6.4 and 6.9 keV iron lines are detected. We attribute the excess iron line emission to the ULX in its high state. In general, the iron K-shell luminosity of M82 is dominated by the diffuse component. The total X-ray luminosity of the diffuse hard X-ray emission is LX,2-8keV~4.4×1039 ergs s-1 in the E=2-8 keV energy band, and the 6.7 keV iron line luminosity is LX,6.7keV~(1.1-1.7)×1038 ergs s-1. The 6.7 keV iron line luminosity is consistent with that expected from the previously unobserved metal-enriched merged SN ejecta that is thought to drive the larger scale galactic superwind. The iron line luminosity implies a thermal pressure within the starburst region of P/k~2×107 K cm-3, consistent with independent observational estimates of the starburst region pressure.

We mapped 3 mm continuum and line emission from the starburst galaxyM82 using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy. We targeted the HCN, HCO+, HNC, CS, and HC3N lines, but here we focus on the HCN and HCO+ emission. The map covers a field of 1.'2 with an ≈5'' resolution. The HCN and HCO+ observations are short spacings corrected. The molecular gas in M82 had been previously found to be distributed in a molecular disk, coincident with the central starburst, and a galactic scale outflow which originates in the central starburst. With the new short spacings-corrected maps we derive some of the properties of the dense molecular gas in the base of the outflow. From the HCN and HCO+ J = (1-0) line emission, and under the assumptions of the gas being optically thin and in local thermodynamic equilibrium, we place lower limits on the amount of dense molecular gas in the base of the outflow. The lower limits are 7 × 106 M ⊙ and 21 × 106 M ⊙, or >~ 2% of the total molecular mass in the outflow. The kinematics and spatial distribution of the dense gas outside the central starburst suggests that it is being expelled through chimneys. Assuming a constant outflow velocity, the derived outflow rate of dense molecular gas is >=0.3 M ⊙ yr-1, which would lower the starburst lifetime by >=5%. The energy required to expel this mass of dense gas is (1-10) × 1052 erg.

We mapped 3 mm continuum and line emission from the starburst galaxyM82 using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy. We targeted the HCN, HCO{sup +}, HNC, CS, and HC{sub 3}N lines, but here we focus on the HCN and HCO{sup +} emission. The map covers a field of 1.'2 with an ≈5'' resolution. The HCN and HCO{sup +} observations are short spacings corrected. The molecular gas in M82 had been previously found to be distributed in a molecular disk, coincident with the central starburst, and a galactic scale outflow which originates in the central starburst. With the new short spacings-corrected maps we derive some of the properties of the dense molecular gas in the base of the outflow. From the HCN and HCO{sup +} J = (1-0) line emission, and under the assumptions of the gas being optically thin and in local thermodynamic equilibrium, we place lower limits on the amount of dense molecular gas in the base of the outflow. The lower limits are 7 × 10{sup 6} M {sub ☉} and 21 × 10{sup 6} M {sub ☉}, or ≳ 2% of the total molecular mass in the outflow. The kinematics and spatial distribution of the dense gas outside the central starburst suggests that it is being expelled through chimneys. Assuming a constant outflow velocity, the derived outflow rate of dense molecular gas is ≥0.3 M {sub ☉} yr{sup –1}, which would lower the starburst lifetime by ≥5%. The energy required to expel this mass of dense gas is (1-10) × 10{sup 52} erg.

Observations are presented of the distribution of 12CO J=3-2 emission in the starburst galaxyM82 covering a region 3''×3'' (2.8×2.8 kpc). This area includes the halo region involved in the superwind outflow. More limited coverage is presented for 13CO J=3-2 and C18O J=3-2. The mass of molecular gas in the halo is about 5×108 Msolar, with a dynamical timescale of the order of 107 yr. The results show the region of the outflow at higher CO excitation than previous published observations. Comparison with recently made observations of 12CO J=2-1 shows that the CO gas becomes progressively de-excited at larger distances from the starburst disk, and the isotopic ratio 13CO/12CO J=3-2 also becomes smaller outside the starburst disk. These effects are interpreted as differences in excitation and optical depth between the starburst region and the outflow and outer disk. A comparison between the 12CO J=3-2 emission with a published 850 μm continuum map shows that CO makes a significant contribution to the continuum in this band and that the fractional contribution is greatest near +/-30" from the nucleus approximately along the major axis. The progressively slower rotation of the halo gas with distance above and below the disk, coupled with consideration of the conservation of angular momentum, is analyzed to reveal the pattern of the outflow. The flow appears to diverge more strongly below the disk, with a cone angle of about 90°, which compares to about 40° above the disk. The mass and energetics of the halo molecular gas suggest the possibility that the molecular material and dust in the halo will not escape from M82 but are instead being recycled through the halo after injection as supershells by one or more transient starburst events.

We present large-field (15.7 × 16.9 arcmin2) CO(J = 1→0) observations of the starburst galaxyM82, at an angular resolution of 22" with the NRO 45-m telescope. The CO emission was detected in the galactic disk, outflow (driven by the galactic wind) up to ˜2 kpc above the galactic plane in the halo, and in tidal streams. The kinematics of the outflow (including CO line splitting) suggests that it has the shape of a cylinder that is diverging outwards. The mass and kinetic energy of the molecular gas outflow are estimated to be (0.26-1.0) × 109 M⊙ and (1-4) × 1056 erg. A clump of CO gas was discovered 3.5 kpc above the galactic plane; it coincides with a dark lane previously found in X-ray observations, and a peak in H I emission. A comparison with H I, hot molecular hydrogen and dust suggests that the molecular gas shows signatures of warm and cool components in the outflow and tidal streams, respectively.

Faint red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey show a puzzling clustering pattern in previous measurements. In the two-point correlation function (2PCF), they appear to be strongly clustered on small scales, indicating a tendency to reside in massive haloes as satellite galaxies. However, their weak clustering on large scales suggests that they are more likely to be found in low-mass haloes. The interpretation of the clustering pattern suffers from the large sample variance in the 2PCF measurements, given the small volume of the volume-limited sample of such faintgalaxies. We present improved clustering measurements of faintgalaxies by making a full use of a flux-limited sample to obtain volume-limited measurements with an increased effective volume. In the improved 2PCF measurements, the fractional uncertainties on large scales drop by more than 40 per cent, and the strong contrast between small-scale and large-scale clustering amplitudes seen in previous work is no longer prominent. From halo occupation distribution modelling of the measurements, we find that a considerable fraction of faint red galaxies to be satellites in massive haloes, a scenario supported by the strong covariance of small-scale 2PCF measurements and the relative spatial distribution of faint red galaxies and luminous galaxies. However, the satellite fraction is found to be degenerate with the slope of the distribution profile of satellites in inner haloes. We compare the modelling results with semi-analytic model predictions and discuss the implications.

We have obtained an 8.4 GHz Very Large Array (VLA) A-array map of the starburst galaxyM82 with a resolution Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) approximately 0.182 sec. About 50 compact radio sources in the central region of M82 were detected with a peak surface brightness approximately greater than 10(exp -17) W/Hz/sq m/sr. Comparison with previous observations shows that most sources are declining in flux. Three previously visible sources have faded into the background of our map (approximately less than 0.2 mJy/beam), while a few sources, including the second and third brightest radio sources in M82, may have increased slightly in flux over the last decade. No new radio supernova was found. The birth rate of the compact radio sources is estimated to be 0.11 + or - 0.05/yr. We attribute the population of such bright, small supernova remnants (SNRs) in M82 to the high pressure in the central region that can truncate the mass loss during a red supergiant phase or allow dense ionized clouds to be present. The compact radio sources obey a Sigma(radio surface brightness) - D(diameter) relation which is remarkably similar to that followed by supernova remnants in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds and by two of the strongest known extragalactic radio supernovae: SN 1986J and SN 1979C. A least-squares fit to the SNR data gives: Sigma(sub 8.4 GHz) (W/Hz/sq m/sr) = 4.4 x 10(exp -16) D(sub pc)(exp -3.5 +/- 0.1) covering seven orders of magnitude in Sigma. Possible selection effects are discussed and a theoretical discussion of the correlation is presented.

We present a map of 12CO J=6-5 emission of the nuclear region of the nearby starburst galaxyM82 at resolution 7" taken with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). This is the highest resolution map yet available at this transition. A detailed quantitative comparison is made with emission at 12CO J=1-0 at the same resolution, yielding new insights into the excitation of molecular gas in this galaxy. The excitation is found to be highest in the central area of the starburst region where the ratio r61=12CO J=6-5/12CO J=1-0 is as high as 0.5, compared to the mean value over the starburst region of 0.24. The excitation ratio peaks along the inner edge of the molecular ring outlined by atomic and molecular gas at lower excitation, and also in two spurs extending northward from the disk toward the outflow associated with the superwind. Emission with higher than average excitation is also found to be associated with the supershell surrounding the luminous SNR candidate 41.9+58, and possibly on a larger scale in gas whose orbits are strongly influenced by the stellar bar. The higher excitation in M82 is likely to be caused predominantly by local increases in kinetic temperature and/or in the geometric filling factor of a preexisting higher excitation component and less likely to be caused by local increases in gas density.

The GeV and TeV emission from M82 and NGC 253 observed by Fermi, HESS, and VERITAS constrain the physics of cosmic rays (CRs) in these dense starbursts. We argue that the {gamma}-rays are predominantly hadronic in origin, as expected by previous studies. The measured fluxes imply that pionic losses are efficient for CR protons in both galaxies: we show that a fraction F{sub cal} {approx} 0.2-0.4 of the energy injected in high-energy primary CR protons is lost to inelastic proton-proton collisions (pion production) before escape, producing {gamma}-rays, neutrinos, and secondary electrons and positrons. We discuss the factor of {approx}2 uncertainties in this estimate, including supernova rate and leptonic contributions to the GeV-TeV emission. We argue that {gamma}-ray data on ULIRGs like Arp 220 can test whether M82 and NGC 253 are truly calorimetric, and we present upper limits on Arp 220 from the Fermi data. We show that the observed ratio of the GeV to GHz fluxes of the starbursts suggests that non-synchrotron cooling processes are important for cooling the CR electron/positron population. We briefly reconsider previous predictions in light of the {gamma}-ray detections, including the starburst contribution to the {gamma}-ray background and CR energy densities. Finally, as a guide for future studies, we list the brightest star-forming galaxies on the sky and present updated predictions for their {gamma}-ray and neutrino fluxes.

implications of this. We confirm that the rotation axis of the ionized emission-line gas is offset from the stellar rotation axis and the photometric major axis by {approx}12 deg. not only within the nuclear regions but over the whole inner 2 kpc of the disk. This attests to the perturbations introduced from M82's past interactions within the M81 group. Finally, finding a turn-over in the stellar and ionized gas rotation curves on both sides of the galaxy indicates that our sight line, in places, extends at least half way through disk, and conflicts with the high levels of obscuration usually associated with the nuclear regions of M82.

We present the results of a study of the amount and distribution of cold atomic gas, as well its correlation with recent star formation in a sample of extremely faint dwarf irregular galaxies. Our sample is drawn from the Faint Irregular Galaxy GMRT Survey (FIGGS) and its extension, FIGGS2. We use two different methods to identify cold atomic gas. In the first method, line-of-sight H I spectra were decomposed into multiple Gaussian components and narrow Gaussian components were identified as cold H I. In the second method, the brightness temperature (TB ) is used as a tracer of cold H I. We find that the amount of cold gas identified using the TB method is significantly larger than the amount of gas identified using Gaussian decomposition. We also find that a large fraction of the cold gas identified using the TB method is spatially coincident with regions of recent star formation, although the converse is not true. That is only a small fraction of the regions with recent star formation are also covered by cold gas. For regions where the star formation and the cold gas overlap, we study the relationship between the star formation rate density and the cold H I column density. We find that the star formation rate density has a power-law dependence on the H I column density, but that the slope of this power law is significantly flatter than that of the canonical Kennicutt-Schmidt relation.

We present the first result from the ISO-IRAS FaintGalaxy Survey (IIFGS), a program designed to obtain ISO observations of the most distant and luminous galaxies in the IRAS Faint Source Survey by filling short gaps in the ISO observing schedule with pairs of 12um ISOCAM AND 90um ISOPHOT observation.

One of the results of faintgalaxy redshift surveys is the increased fraction of galaxies which have strong emission-line spectra. These faint surveys find that roughly 50 percent of the galaxies have an equivalent width of (OII), W sub 3727, greater than 20 A while this fraction is less than 20 percent in the DARS survey. This has been interpreted as evidence for strong evolution in the galaxy population at redshifts less than 0.5. In order to further investigate the properties of the galaxies in faint redshift surveys, two important factors must be addressed. The first is the observed correlation between color, luminosity, and W sub 3727. There is a correlation between color and the strength of emission lines, bluer galaxies having stronger emission features, as evident for Markarian galaxies and for galaxies in Kennicutt's spectrophotometric atlas. This correlation also applies galaxies in faint redshift surveys. In addition, low luminosity galaxies have a larger average W sub 3727 (and bluer colors) than higher luminosity galaxies. This is illustrated for Kennicutt's low z late-type galaxies, for the Durham Faint Surveys, and for galaxies in SA68. The second factor which must be incorporated into any interpretation of the faint emission galaxies is the different luminosity functions for galaxies depending on color. This is usually modeled by varying M* for different color classes (or morphological types); however, the shape of the luminosity function is different for galaxies with different colors. Low luminosity, blue galaxies have a much larger number density than low luminosity, red galaxies. Furthermore, the low luminosity end of the blue galaxy luminosity function is not well fit by a Schechter function. These two factors have been included in a very simple, no-evolution, model for the galaxy population. This model uses the luminosity functions from Shanks (1990) and spectral energy distributions (SED's) from Bruzual (1988). W sub 3727 is predicted using

Several independent lines of reasoning, both theoretical and observational, suggest that the very faint (B ≳ 24) galaxies seen in deep images of the sky are small low-mass galaxies that experienced a short starburst at redshifts 0.5 ≲ z ≲ 1 and have since faded into low-luminosity, low surface brightness (LSB) objects. We examine this hypothesis in detail in order to determine whether a model incorporating such dwarfs can account for the observed wavelength-dependent number counts, as well as redshift, color, and size distributions. Low-mass galaxies generically arise in large numbers in hierarchical clustering scenarios with realistic initial conditions. Generally, these galaxies are expected to form at high redshifts. Babul & Rees have argued that the formation epoch of these galaxies is, in fact, delayed until z ≲ 1 due to the photoionization of the gas by the metagalactic UV radiation at high redshifts. We combine these two elements, along with simple heuristic assumptions regarding star formation histories and efficiency, to construct our bursting dwarf model. The slope and the normalization of the mass function of the dwarf galaxies are derived from the initial conditions and are not adjusted to fit the data. We further augment the model with a phenomenological prescription for the formation and evolution of the locally observed population of galaxies (E, S0, Sab, Sbc, and Sdm types). We use spectral synthesis and Monte Carlo methods to generate realistic model galaxy catalogs for comparison with observations. We find that for reasonable choices of the star formation histories for the dwarf galaxies, the model results are in very good agreement with the results of the deep galaxy surveys. Such a dwarf-dominated model is also qualitatively supported by recent studies of faintgalaxy gravitational lensing and clustering, by galaxy size distributions measured with the Hubble Space Telescope, and by the evidence for very modest evolution in regular galaxy

As part of the ISO-IRAS FaintGalaxy Survey ISO Satellite observations of over 600 IRAS sources have been obtained with the ISOCAM instrument. Because our survey strategy involved relatively short integrations, great care was required in developing analysis software including cosmic-ray and transient removal and calibration. These observations have now been through final pipeline processing at IPAC and ground-based follow-up is ongoing. The observations are for sources from two samples: a " Filler' sample selected to be at z greater than 0.1 and a fainter sample which selected for the highest redshift galaxies in the IRAS survey, with redshifts 0.2 less than z less than 1.0. I now have obtained ground-based follow-up spectrophotometry at Lick and Palomar observatories for 100 LFIRGs with 0.1 less than z less than 0.7. Our observations have confirmed that these systems are comparable to nearby LFIRGs such as Arp 220, with L (sub -)(fir) greater than 10(exp 11) L(sub -) sun and typically HII/Liner optical excitation. About 10% of the galaxies show true AGN (Sy2) excitation. Based on our work on a nearby complete sample of LFIRGS, we believe that the majority of these systems are luminous Starbursts, thus this project is tracing the luminous end of the galaxy star-forming luminosity function - the (infrared) star-formation history of the Universe to z approx. 1, a topic of some considerable recent interest. A by-product of these ISOCAM observations is approximately 1 square degree of deep 2 microns pointings outside the IRAS error boxes, allowing us an independent estimate of the mid-infrared log N - log S relation. Ground-based observations of this sample are continuing.

Models of the faintgalaxy contribution to the diffuse extragalactic background light are presented, which are consistent with current data on faintgalaxy number counts and redshifts. The autocorrelation function of surface brightness fluctuations in the extragalactic diffuse light is predicted, and the way in which these predictions depend on the cosmological model and assumptions of biasing is determined. It is confirmed that the recent deep infrared number counts are most compatible with a high density universe (Omega-0 is approximately equal to 1) and that the steep blue counts then require an extra population of rapidly evolving blue galaxies. The faintest presently detectable galaxies produce an interesting contribution to the extragalactic diffuse light, and still fainter galaxies may also produce a significant contribution. These faintgalaxies still only produce a small fraction of the total optical diffuse background light, but on scales of a few arcminutes to a few degrees, they produce a substantial fraction of the fluctuations in the diffuse light.

In this second paper of the series, we present the results from optical Gemini-North GMOS-IFU and WIYN DensePak IFU spectroscopic observations of the starburst and inner wind zones of M82, with a focus on the state of the T approx 10{sup 4} K ionized interstellar medium. Our electron density maps show peaks of a few 1000 cm{sup -3} (implying very high thermal pressures), local small spatial-scale variations, and a falloff in the minor axis direction. We discuss the implications of these results with regards to the conditions/locations that may favor the escape of individual cluster winds that ultimately power the large-scale superwind. Our findings, when combined with the body of literature built up over the last decade on the state of the interstellar medium (ISM) in M82, imply that the starburst environment is highly fragmented into a range of clouds from small/dense clumps with low-filling factors (<1 pc, n {sub e} approx> 10{sup 4} cm{sup -3}) to larger filling factor, less dense gas. The most compact clouds seem to be found in the cores of the star cluster complexes, whereas the cloud sizes in the inter-complex region are larger. These dense clouds are bathed with an intense radiation field and embedded in an extensive high temperature (T approx> 10{sup 6} K), X-ray-emitting ISM that is a product of the high star formation rates in the starburst zones of M82. The near-constant state of the ionization state of the approx10{sup 4} K gas throughout the M82 starburst zone can be explained as a consequence of the small cloud sizes, which allow the gas conditions to respond quickly to any changes. In Paper I, we found that the observed emission lines are composed of multiple components, including a broad (FWHM approx 150-350 km s{sup -1}) feature that we associate with emission from turbulent mixing layers on the surfaces of the gas clouds, resulting from the interaction of the fast wind outflows from the synchrotron self-Comptons. The large number of compact clouds

The radio surface brightness-to-diameter ({Sigma}-D) relation for supernova remnants (SNRs) in the starburst galaxyM82 is analyzed in a statistically more robust manner than in the previous studies that mainly discussed sample quality and related selection effects. The statistics of data fits in the log {Sigma}-log D plane are analyzed by using vertical (standard) and orthogonal regressions. As the parameter values of D-{Sigma} and {Sigma}-D fits are invariant within the estimated uncertainties for orthogonal regressions, slopes of the empirical {Sigma}-D relations should be determined by using the orthogonal regression fitting procedure. Thus obtained {Sigma}-D relations for samples which are not under severe influence of the selection effects could be used for estimating SNR distances. Using the orthogonal regression fitting procedure, the {Sigma}-D slope {beta} {approx} 3.9 is obtained for the sample of 31 SNRs in M82. The results of implemented Monte Carlo simulations show that the sensitivity selection effect does not significantly influence the slope of the M82 relation. This relation could be used for estimating distances to SNRs that evolve in a denser interstellar environment, with number density up to 1000 particles per cm{sup 3}.

The evolution of the B- and K-band luminosity functions of galaxies is inferred in a relatively model-independent way from deep spectroscopic and photometric surveys. We confirm earlier evidence by Eales for an increase in the amplitude of the B-band galaxy luminosity function at modest redshift (z less than or approx. 0.2). We find in addition that the slope of the faint end of the luminosity function must systematically steepen and progress toward more luminous galaxies with increasing lookback time, assuming that the galaxy redshift distribution may be smoothly extrapolated 2 mag fainter than observed, as suggested by recent gravitational lensing studies. This evolution is shown to be color-dependent, and we predict the near-infrared color distribution of faintgalaxies. The luminosity function of blue (B - K less than or approx. 4) galaxies in the range 0.2 less than or approx. z less than or approx. 1 can be represented by a Schechter function with characteristic light density phi(sup *) L(sup *) comparable to that of present-day late-type galaxies, but with a steeper faint end slope alpha approx. 1.4.

Fainting is a temporary loss of consciousness. If you're about to faint, you'll feel dizzy, ... at the same time, and may fall down. Fainting usually happens when your blood pressure drops suddenly, ...

Faint submillimeter galaxies are the major contributors to the submillimeter extragalactic background light and hence the dominant star-forming population in the dusty universe. Determining how much these galaxies overlap the optically selected samples is critical to fully account for the cosmic star formation history. To explore this faint submillimeter population, we have been observing nine galaxy clusters with the SCUBA-2 camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, including five of the clusters in the HST Frontier Fields program. We have also been using the Submillimeter Array to determine the positions of our detected sources precisely. Our recent observations have discovered several high-redshift dusty galaxies with far-infrared luminosities similar to that of the Milky Way or luminous infrared galaxies but which are undetected in current deep radio, optical and near-infrared images. These remarkable results suggest that a substantial amount of star formation in even the faint submillimeter population may be hidden from rest-frame optical surveys.

Our view of the Milky Way's satellite population has radically changed after the discovery, ten years ago, of the first Ultra-Faint Dwarf galaxies (UFDs). These extremely faint, dark-matter dominated, scarcely evolved stellar systems are found in ever-increasing number in our cosmic neighbourhood and constitute a gold-mine for studies of early star formation conditions and early chemical enrichment pathways. Here we show what can be learned from the measurements of chemical abundances in UFD stars read through the lens of chemical evolution studies, point out the limitations of the classic approach, and discuss the way to go to improve the models.

We present the results of a search for intrinsically faintgalaxies towards three regions with known voids and the Hercules supercluster. The intention was to identify galaxies of low luminosity in order to find possibly a galaxy population in the voids. Within these selected fields we increased the range of observations in comparison with the recent large field surveys which revealed the non-uniform spatial distribution of galaxies. The limiting magnitude was raised by about 5mag, the limiting surface brightness by 2mag/sq.arcsec, and the limiting diameter reduced to less than 1/3. The individual observational data of our sample are published in the previous PaperI (Hopp et al. 1995) which describes our search strategy and contains B and R magnitudes, apparent diameters, redshifts and galaxy types of about 200 newly identified objects. Their luminosity distribution demonstrates a relatively high percentage of dwarfish galaxies. As the essential result of our survey we have to point out that no clear indication of a void-population was found. The majority of our objects lie outside voids in regions where the already known galaxies are concentrated. Some are located in the middle or near the edges of voids. They appear to be rather isolated, their distances to the nearest neighbour are quite large. Only few of our objects seem to be real void galaxies. Even in the three nearest and rather well defined voids we do not find any hitherto unknown galaxy.

Deep imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has revealed a population of rapidly evolving galaxies, which account for < 50% of the total counts at I galaxies observed at optical wavelengths. Since galaxy morphology is a function of the wavelength and of the localization and intensity of the star-formation activity, the appearance of galaxies at large redshifts is subject to k- correction and evolutionary effects of the stellar populations, even if the underlying dynamics does not change significantly. In addition, the strong dependence of the surface brightness on redshift as σ ~(1 +z)^-4^ implies that the observed morphology of distant galaxies is also affected by the limiting surface brightness that can be reached. This paper shows how local galaxies observed at UV wavelengths with the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) would appear to HST if placed at cosmological distances, with the UV light redshifted to the optical wavelengths. The simulated distant galaxies have morphologies that are of later type or more irregular than their local (optical) counterparts, and some are in qualitative agreement with those revealed by the faint HST surveys, suggesting that dynamical evolution has played a minor role in the evolution of the majority of the galaxies over a large fraction of the Hubble time. However, the dependence of galaxy morphology on the star-formation activity and on the wavelength must be properly understood before any conclusion on the overall morphological evolution of galaxies can be derived.

We present new constraints on the star formation histories of the ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, using deep photometry obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). A galaxy class recently discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the UFDs appear to be an extension of the classical dwarf spheroidals to low luminosities, offering a new front in efforts to understand the missing satellite problem. They are the least luminous, most dark-matter-dominated, and least chemically evolved galaxies known. Our HST survey of six UFDs seeks to determine if these galaxies are true fossils from the early universe. We present here the preliminary analysis of three UFD galaxies: Hercules, Leo IV, and Ursa Major I. Classical dwarf spheroidals of the Local Group exhibit extended star formation histories, but these three Milky Way satellites are at least as old as the ancient globular cluster M92, with no evidence for intermediate-age populations. Their ages also appear to be synchronized to within {approx}1 Gyr of each other, as might be expected if their star formation was truncated by a global event, such as reionization.

... muscle control at the same time, and may fall down. Fainting usually happens when your blood pressure drops suddenly, causing a decrease in blood flow to your brain. It is more common in older people. Some causes of fainting include Heat or dehydration ...

... of fainting: Certain medicines, including those used for anxiety, depression, and high blood pressure (these drugs may cause a drop in blood pressure) Drug or alcohol use Hyperventilation Low blood sugar Seizures Sudden drop in blood pressure (such as ...

... brain does not get enough oxygen. You lose consciousness, or "pass out," for a brief time (usually ... Taking longer than a few seconds to regain consciousness Fainting when you turn your head to the ...

The discovery of ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies in the halo of the Milky Way extends the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function to a few hundred solar luminosities. This extremely low luminosity regime poses a significant challenge for the photometric characterization of these systems. We present a suite of simulations aimed at understanding how different observational choices related to the properties of a low-luminosity system impact our ability to determine its true structural parameters such as half-light radius and central surface brightness. We focus on estimating half-light radii (on which mass estimates depend linearly) and find that these numbers can have up to 100% uncertainties when relatively shallow photometric surveys, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, are used. Our simulations suggest that to recover structural parameters within 10% or better of their true values: (1) the ratio of the field of view to the half-light radius of the satellite must be greater than three, (2) the total number of stars, including background objects should be larger than 1000, and (3) the central to background stellar density ratio must be higher than 20. If one or more of these criteria are not met, the accuracy of the resulting structural parameters can be significantly compromised. In the context of future surveys such as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the latter condition will be closely tied to our ability to remove unresolved background galaxies. Assessing the reliability of measured structural parameters will become increasingly critical as the next generation of deep wide-field surveys detects UFDs beyond the reach of current spectroscopic limits.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected the building blocks of life in the distant universe, albeit in a violent milieu. Training its powerful infrared eye on a faint object located at a distance of 3.2 billion light-years, Spitzer has observed the presence of water and organic molecules in the galaxy IRAS F00183-7111. With an active galactic nucleus, this is one of the most luminous galaxies in the universe, rivaling the energy output of a quasar. Because it is heavily obscured by dust (see visible-light image in the inset), most of its luminosity is radiated at infrared wavelengths.

The infrared spectrograph instrument onboard Spitzer breaks light into its constituent colors, much as a prism does for visible light. The image shows a low-resolution spectrum of the galaxy obtained by the spectrograph at wavelengths between 4 and 20 microns. Spectra are graphical representations of a celestial object's unique blend of light. Characteristic patterns, or fingerprints, within the spectra allow astronomers to identify the object's chemical composition and to determine such physical properties as temperature and density.

The broad depression in the center of the spectrum denotes the presence of silicates (chemically similar to beach sand) in the galaxy. An emission peak within the bottom of the trough is the chemical signature for molecular hydrogen. The hydrocarbons (orange) are organic molecules comprised of carbon and hydrogen, two of the most common elements on Earth. Since it has taken more than three billion years for the light from the galaxy to reach Earth, it is intriguing to note the presence of organics in a distant galaxy at a time when life is thought to have started forming on our home planet.

Additional features in the spectrum reveal the presence of water ice (blue), carbon dioxide ice (green) and carbon monoxide (purple) in both gas and solid forms. The magenta peak corresponds to singly ionized neon gas, a spectral line often used by

We present a technique to detect Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies (UFDs) in the Galactic Halo, using sky and proper motion information.The method uses wavelet transforms to detect peaks in the sky and proper motion planes, and to evaluate the probability of these being stochastic fluctuations. We aim to map thoroughly the detection limits of this technique. For this, we have produced a library of 15,000 synthetic UFDs, embedded in the Gaia Universe Model Snapshot (GUMS) background (Robin et al. 2012), each at a different distance, different luminosity, half-light radius, velocity dispersion and center-of-mass velocity, varying in ranges that extend well beyond those spanned by known classical and ultra-faint dSphs. We use these synthetic UFDs as a benchmark to characterize the completeness and detection limits of our technique, and present our results as a function of different physical and observable parameters of the UFDs (see full poster for more details at https://gaia.ub.edu/Twiki/pub/GREATITNFC/ProgramFinalconference/Poster_UFGX_Bcn_C_Mateu.pdf).

On UT 2008 Nov 19.536, P60-FasTING (Palomar 60-inch Fast Transients In Nearby Galaxies) discovered a possible nova in M82 at RA(J2000) = 09:55:58.390 DEC(J2000) = +69:40:56.17, offset from the nucleus by 29.5"E, 10.4"N. P60-M82-081119 had a brightness of g = 20.0 +/- 0.1 at peak corresponding to Mg = -7.8 at the distance of M82 (uncorrected for extinction). There is no counterpart in SDSS or SIMBAD.

A constant-age population of blue galaxies, postulated in the model of Gronwall & Koo, seems to provide an attractive explanation of the excess of very blue galaxies in the deep galaxy counts. Such a population may be generated by a set of galaxies with cycling star formation rates or, at the other extreme, be maintained by the continual formation of new galaxies that fade after they reach the age specified in the Gronwall & Koo model. For both of these hypotheses, we have calculated the luminosity functions, including the respective selection criteria, the redshift distributions, and the number counts in the BJ and K bands. We find a substantial excess in the number of galaxies at low redshift (0 < z < 0.05) over that observed in the Canada-France-Hawaii redshift survey (Lilly et al.) and at the faint end of the Las Campanas luminosity function (Lin et al.). Passive or mild evolution fails to account for the deep galaxy counts because of the implications for low-redshift determinations of the I-selected redshift distribution and the r-selected luminosity function in samples where the faded counterparts of the star-forming galaxies would be detectable.

We have discovered a population of faint single line emitters, likely to be identified with faint z˜ 3 Lyα emitters and with the host galaxies of damped Lyman alpha systems. The objects appear to constitute the bulk of the star-forming galaxies detected so far from the ground, and are likely to provide the gaseous reservoir from which present-day Milky way type galaxies have formed. Unlike color-selected (yman break galaxies, these objects appear to have low star-formation rates, relatively strong Lyalpha emission, and low masses, metallicities, and dust content (s.a. arXiv:0711.1354).

We present a new analysis of the early-type galaxy population in the central region of the Antlia cluster, focusing on the faint systems such as dwarf ellipticals (dEs) and dwarf spheroidals (dSphs). The colour-magnitude relation (CMR) and the relation between luminosity and mean effective surface brightness for galaxies in the central region of Antlia have been previously studied in Paper I of the present series. Now we confirm 22 early-type galaxies as Antlia members, using Gemini-GMOS and Magellan-MIKE spectra. Among them, 15 are dEs from the FS90 Antlia Group catalogue, two belong to the rare type of compact ellipticals (cEs) and five are new faint dwarfs that had never been catalogued before. In addition, we present 16 newly identified low-surface-brightness galaxy candidates, almost half of them displaying morphologies consistent with being Antlia's counterparts of Local Group dSphs, which extend the faint luminosity limit of our study down to MB=-10.1(BT= 22.6) mag. With these new data, we built an improved CMR in the Washington photometric system, i.e. integrated T1 magnitudes versus (C-T1) colours, which extends ˜4 mag faintwards the limit of spectroscopically confirmed Antlia members. When only confirmed early-type members are considered, this relation extends over 10 mag in luminosity with no apparent change in slope or increase in colour dispersion towards its faint end. The intrinsic colour scatter of the relation is compared with those reported for other clusters of galaxies; we argue that it is likely that the large scatter of the CMR, usually reported at faint magnitudes, is mostly due to photometric errors along with an improper membership/morphological classification. The distinct behaviour of the luminosity versus mean effective surface brightness relation at the bright and faint ends is analysed, while it is confirmed that dE galaxies on the same relation present a very similar effective radius, regardless of their colour. The projected spatial

Previous studies of the Na I D interstellar absorption line doublet have shown that galactic winds occur in most galaxies with high infrared luminosities. However, in infrared-bright composite systems where a starburst coexists with an active galactic nucleus (AGN), it is unclear whether the starburst, the AGN, or both are driving the outflows. The present paper describes the results from a search for outflows in 35 infrared-faint Seyferts with 10{sup 9.9}< L{sub IR}/L{sub sun} < 10{sup 11}, or, equivalently, star formation rates (SFRs) of approx0.4-9 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1}, to attempt to isolate the source of the outflow. We find that the outflow detection rates for the infrared-faint Seyfert 1s (6%) and Seyfert 2s (18%) are lower than previously reported for infrared-luminous Seyfert 1s (50%) and Seyfert 2s (45%). The outflow kinematics of infrared-faint and infrared-bright Seyfert 2 galaxies resemble those of starburst galaxies, while the outflow velocities in Seyfert 1 galaxies are significantly larger. Taken together, these results suggest that the AGN does not play a significant role in driving the outflows in most infrared-faint and infrared-bright systems, except the high-velocity outflows seen in Seyfert 1 galaxies. Another striking result of this study is the high rate of detection of inflows in infrared-faintgalaxies (39% of Seyfert 1s, 35% of Seyfert 2s), significantly larger than in infrared-luminous Seyferts (15%). This inflow may be contributing to the feeding of the AGN in these galaxies, and potentially provides more than enough material to power the observed nuclear activity over typical AGN lifetimes.

A large collaboration at Caltech has been using the Keck and other telescopes to perform UBVRIKL imaging and take spectra of faintgalaxies. The spectroscopic samples contain several hundred objects to K=20 mag or R=24 mag and the imaging samples contain thousands of sources to R~ 27. Faint field galaxies are found to be strongly clustered in velocity space; the angular coherence, masses and morphologies in configuration space of these structures are investigated. In cooperation with the University of Hawaii group, the luminosity function of galaxies is computed in the near-infrared; strong evolution is found in the number of low-luminosity galaxies to z~ 1, although the statistical properties of high-luminosity objects are relatively constant. A range of models for the faintgalaxy counts are constructed, not on the basis of a priori information about galaxy properties (from, say, cosmogonic theory) but rather by ``inverting'' the data under a range of qualitatively distinct simplifying assumptions. Predictions are made for ongoing or future imaging and spectroscopy surveys which will clearly distinguish the models. The prospects for a ``meta-analysis'' of a large collection of heterogeneous surveys to create consistent galaxy evolution models from z=0 to the highest observed redshifts are discussed.

We present Feedback in Realistic Environment (FIRE)/GIZMO hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations of isolated dark matter haloes, two each at the mass of classical dwarf galaxies (Mvir ≃ 1010 M⊙) and ultra-faintgalaxies (Mvir ≃ 109 M⊙), and with two feedback implementations. The resulting central galaxies lie on an extrapolated abundance matching relation from M⋆ ≃ 106 to 104 M⊙ without a break. Every host is filled with subhaloes, many of which form stars. Each of our dwarfs with M⋆ ≃ 106 M⊙ has 1-2 well-resolved satellites with M⋆ = 3-200 × 103 M⊙. Even our isolated ultra-faintgalaxies have star-forming subhaloes. If this is representative, dwarf galaxies throughout the Universe should commonly host tiny satellite galaxies of their own. We combine our results with the Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations (ELVIS) simulations to show that targeting ˜ 50 kpc regions around nearby isolated dwarfs could increase the chances of discovering ultra-faintgalaxies by ˜35 per cent compared to random pointings, and specifically identify the region around the Phoenix dwarf galaxy as a good potential target. The well-resolved ultra-faintgalaxies in our simulations (M⋆ ≃ 3-30 × 103 M⊙) form within Mpeak ≃ 0.5-3 × 109 M⊙ haloes. Each has a uniformly ancient stellar population ( > 10 Gyr) owing to reionization-related quenching. More massive systems, in contrast, all have late-time star formation. Our results suggest that Mhalo ≃ 5 × 109 M⊙ is a probable dividing line between haloes hosting reionization `fossils' and those hosting dwarfs that can continue to form stars in isolation after reionization.

Red H-alpha and R-band CCD images of the M82galaxy were obtained and compared with corresponding NIR S III forbidden-line and I-band images and with a smaller Br-gamma infrared-array image of the central 500 pc. Results furnish evidence of circumnuclear pileup in M82, probably toroidal in form, which is dynamically linked to the central (bilobal) starburst and which is now collimating the subsequent eruptions and emergent radiation.

I show that a recently discovered star cluster near the center of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Eridanus II provides strong constraints on massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) of ≳5 M ⊙ as the main component of dark matter. MACHO dark matter will dynamically heat the cluster, driving it to larger sizes and higher velocity dispersions until it dissolves into its host galaxy. The stars in compact ultra-faint dwarf galaxies themselves will be subject to the same dynamical heating; the survival of at least 10 such galaxies places independent limits on MACHO dark matter of masses ≳10 M ⊙. Both Eri II’s cluster and the compact ultra-faint dwarfs are characterized by stellar masses of just a few thousand M ⊙ and half-light radii of 13 pc (for the cluster) and ∼30 pc (for the ultra-faint dwarfs). These systems close the ∼20–100 M ⊙ window of allowed MACHO dark matter and combine with existing constraints from microlensing, wide binaries, and disk kinematics to rule out dark matter composed entirely of MACHOs from ∼10‑7 M ⊙ up to arbitrarily high masses.

We have obtained detailed Fabry-Perot imaging observations of the nearby galaxyM82 in order to understand the physical association between the high-velocity outflow and the starburst nucleus. The high spatial and kinematic resolution of our observations has allowed us to perform photometric analyses of Hα, [N II], and [O III] spectral lines at roughly 100,000 positions across the extent of the galaxy. The observed velocities of the emitting gas in M82 reveal a bipolar outflow of material, originating from the bright starburst regions in the galaxy's inner disk but misaligned with respect to the galaxy spin axis. The deprojected outflow velocity indicated by the optical filaments increases with radius from 525 to 655 km s-1. All three spectral lines show double components in the centers of the outflowing lobes, with the Hα line split by ~300 km s-1 over a region almost 1 kpc in size. The filamentary lobes lie along an axis tilted by 15° with respect to the spin axis, a finding confirmed by the regions of line splitting and by the ionization pattern over the outflow. The filaments are not simple surfaces of revolution, nor is the emission distributed evenly over the surfaces. We model these lobes as a composite of cylindrical and conical structures, collimated in the inner ~500 pc but expanding at a larger opening angle of ~25° beyond that radius. We compare our kinematic model with simulations of starburst-driven winds in which disk material surrounding the source is entrained by the wind. There is some evidence for rotation of the wind filaments about the outflow axis in support of entrainment, and we find strong similarities between the observed and predicted structures. The data reveal a remarkably low [N II]/Hα ratio in the region of the outflow, indicating that photoionization by the nuclear starburst may play a significant role in the excitation of the optical filament gas, particularly near the nucleus. An increase in the [O III]/Hα ratio along the

The heaviest elements in the periodic table are synthesized through the r-process, but the astrophysical site for r-process nucleosynthesis is still unknown. Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies contain a simple fossil record of early chemical enrichment that may determine this site. Previous measurements found very low levels of neutron-capture elements in ultra-faint dwarfs, preferring supernovae as the r-process site. I present high-resolution chemical abundances of nine stars in the recently discovered ultra-faint dwarf Reticulum II, which display extremely enhanced r-process abundances 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than the other ultra-faint dwarfs. Stars with such extreme r-process enhancements are only rarely found in the Milky Way halo. The r-process abundances imply that the neutron-capture material in Reticulum II was synthesized in a single prolific event that is incompatible with r-process yields from ordinary core-collapse supernovae. Reticulum II provides an opportunity to discriminate whether the source of this pure r-process signature is a neutron star merger or magnetorotationally driven supernova. The single event is also a uniquely stringent constraint on the metal mixing and star formation history of this ultra-faint dwarf galaxy.

Recent measurements of the Luminosity Function (LF) of galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (EoR, zlower.5ex buildrel> over ˜ 6) indicate a very steep increase of the number density of low-mass galaxies populating the LF faint-end. However, as star formation in low-mass halos can be easily depressed or even quenched by ionizing radiation, a turnover is expected at some faint UV magnitudes. Using a physically-motivated analytical model, we quantify reionization feedback effects on the LF faint-end shape. We find that if reionization feedback is neglected, the power-law Schechter parameterization characterizing the LF faint-end remains valid up to absolute UV magnitude ˜-9. If instead radiative feedback is strong enough that quenches star formation in halos with circular velocity smaller than 50 km s-1, the LF starts to drop at absolute UV magnitude ˜-15, i.e. slightly below the detection limits of current (unlensed) surveys at z ˜ 5. The LFs may rise again at higher absolute UV magnitude, where, as a result of interplay between reionization process and galaxy formation, most of the galaxy light is from relic stars formed before the EoR. We suggest that the galaxy number counts data, particularly in lensed fields, can put strong constraints on reionization feedback. In models with stronger reionization feedback, stars in galaxies with absolute UV magnitude higher than ˜-13 and smaller than ˜-8 are typically older. Hence, the stellar age - UV magnitude relation can be used as an alternative feedback probe.

We report the discovery of a very diverse set of five low-surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxy candidates in Hickson Compact Group 90 (HCG 90) detected in deep U- and I-band images obtained with VLT/VIMOS. These are the first LSB dwarf galaxy candidates found in a compact group of galaxies. We measure spheroid half-light radii in the range 0.7 ≲ reff/kpc ≲ 1.5 with luminosities of -11.65 ≲ MU ≲ -9.42 and -12.79 ≲ MI ≲ -10.58 mag, corresponding to a color range of (U - I)0 ≃ 1.1 - 2.2 mag and surface brightness levels of μU ≃ 28.1 mag/arcsec2 and μI ≃ 27.4 mag/arcsec2. Their colours and luminosities are consistent with a diverse set of stellar population properties. Assuming solar and 0.02 Z⊙ metallicities we obtain stellar masses in the range M_*|_{Z_odot } ˜eq 10^{5.7-6.3} M_{odot } and M_*|_{0.02 Z_odot } ˜eq 10^{6.3-8} M_{odot }. Three dwarfs are older than 1 Gyr, while the other two significantly bluer dwarfs are younger than ˜2 Gyr at any mass/metallicity combination. Altogether, the new LSB dwarf galaxy candidates share properties with dwarf galaxies found throughout the Local Volume and in nearby galaxy clusters such as Fornax. We find a pair of candidates with ˜2 kpc projected separation, which may represent one of the closest dwarf galaxy pairs found. We also find a nucleated dwarf candidate, with a nucleus size of reff ≃ 46 - 63 pc and magnitude MU, 0 = -7.42 mag and (U - I)0 = 1.51 mag, which is consistent with a nuclear stellar disc with a stellar mass in the range 104.9 - 6.5 M⊙.

This thesis is concerned with the gravitational lensing effect by massive galaxy clusters. We have explored a new technique for measuring galaxy masses and for detecting high-z galaxies by their optical colors. A redshift survey has been obtained at the Keck for a magnitude limited sample of objects (I<23) behind three clusters, A1689, A2390, and A2218 within a radius of 0.5M pc. For each cluster we see both a clear trend of increasing flux and redshift towards the center. This behavior is the result of image magnifications, such that at fixed redshift one sees further down the luminosity function. The gradient of this magnification is, unlike measurements of image distortion, sensitive to the mass profile, and found to depart strongly from a pure isothermal halo. We have found that V RI color selection can be used effectively as a discriminant for finding high-z galaxies behind clusters and present five 4.1 < z < 5.1 spectra which are of very high quality due to their high mean magnification of {approximately}20, showing strong, visibly-saturated interstellar metal lines in some cases. We have also investigated the radio ring lens PKS 1830-211, locating the source and multiple images and detected molecular absorption at mm wavelengths. Broad molecular absorption of width 1/40kms is found toward the southwest component only, where surprisingly it does not reach the base of the continuum, which implies incomplete coverage of the SW component by molecular gas, despite the small projected size of the source, less than 1/8h pc at the absorption redshift.

We report on a study of the isophotal shapes of early-type galaxies to very faint levels, reaching ∼0.1% of the sky brightness. The galaxies are from the Large Format Camera (LFC) fields obtained using the Palomar 5 m Hale Telescope, with integrated exposures ranging from 1 to 4 hr in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey r, i, and z bands. The shapes of isophotes of early-type galaxies are important, as they are correlated with the physical properties of the galaxies and are influenced by galaxy formation processes. In this paper, we report on a sample of 132 E and SO galaxies in one LFC field. We have redshifts for 53 of these, obtained using AAOmega on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. The shapes of early-type galaxies often vary with radius. We derive average values of isophotal shape parameters in four different radial bins along the semi-major axis in each galaxy. We obtain empirical fitting formulae for the probability distribution of the isophotal parameters in each bin and investigate for possible correlations with other global properties of the galaxies. Our main finding is that the isophotal shapes of the inner regions are statistically different from those in the outer regions. This suggests that the outer and inner parts of early-type galaxies have evolved somewhat independently.

We develop a technique to investigate the possibility that some of the recently discovered ultra-faint dwarf satellites of the Milky Way might be cusp caustics rather than gravitationally self-bound systems. Such cusps can form when a stream of stars folds, creating a region where the projected two-dimensional surface density is enhanced. In this work, we construct a Poisson maximum likelihood test to compare the cusp and exponential models of any substructure on an equal footing. We apply the test to the Hercules dwarf (d {approx} 113 kpc, M{sub V} {approx} -6.2, e {approx} 0.67). The flattened exponential model is strongly favored over the cusp model in the case of Hercules, ruling out at high confidence that Hercules is a cusp catastrophe. This test can be applied to any of the Milky Way dwarfs, and more generally to the entire stellar halo population, to search for the cusp catastrophes that might be expected in an accreted stellar halo.

We report the discovery of eight new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy candidates in the second year of optical imaging data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Six of these candidates are detected at high confidence, while two lower-confidence candidates are identified in regions of non-uniform survey coverage. The new stellar systems are found by three independent automated search techniques and are identified as overdensities of stars, consistent with the isochrone and luminosity function of an old and metal-poor simple stellar population. The new systems are faint (MV > -4.7 ) and span a range of physical sizes (17 pc < r1/2 < 181pc) and heliocentric distances (25 kpc < D⊙ < 214 kpc). All of the new systems have central surface brightnesses consistent with known ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (μ 27.5 magarcsec -2). Roughly half of the DES candidates are more distant, less luminous, and/or have lower surface brightnesses than previously known Milky Way satellite galaxies. Most of the candidates are found in the southern part of the DES footprint close to the Magellanic Clouds. We find that the DES data alone exclude (p < 10-3) a spatially isotropic distribution of Milky Way satellites and that the observed distribution can be well, though not uniquely, described by an association between several of the DES satellites and the Magellanic system. Furthermore, our model predicts that the full sky may hold ~100 ultra-faintgalaxies with physical properties comparable to the DES satellites and that 20%–30% of these would be spatially associated with the Magellanic Clouds.

We report the discovery of eight new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy candidates in the second year of optical imaging data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Six of these candidates are detected at high confidence, while two lower-confidence candidates are identified in regions of non-uniform survey coverage. The new stellar systems are found by three independent automated search techniques and are identified as overdensities of stars, consistent with the isochrone and luminosity function of an old and metal-poor simple stellar population. The new systems are faint (MV > -4.7 ) and span a range of physical sizes (17 pc < r1/2more » < 181pc) and heliocentric distances (25 kpc < D⊙ < 214 kpc). All of the new systems have central surface brightnesses consistent with known ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (μ 27.5 mag arcsec -2). Roughly half of the DES candidates are more distant, less luminous, and/or have lower surface brightnesses than previously known Milky Way satellite galaxies. Most of the candidates are found in the southern part of the DES footprint close to the Magellanic Clouds. We find that the DES data alone exclude (p < 10-3) a spatially isotropic distribution of Milky Way satellites and that the observed distribution can be well, though not uniquely, described by an association between several of the DES satellites and the Magellanic system. Furthermore, our model predicts that the full sky may hold ~100 ultra-faintgalaxies with physical properties comparable to the DES satellites and that 20%–30% of these would be spatially associated with the Magellanic Clouds.« less

We report the discovery of eight new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy candidates in the second year of optical imaging data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Six of these candidates are detected at high confidence, while two lower-confidence candidates are identified in regions of non-uniform survey coverage. The new stellar systems are found by three independent automated search techniques and are identified as overdensities of stars, consistent with the isochrone and luminosity function of an old and metal-poor simple stellar population. The new systems are faint (MV > -4.7 {mag}) and span a range of physical sizes (17 {pc} < r1/2 < 181 {pc}) and heliocentric distances (25 kpc < D⊙ < 214 kpc). All of the new systems have central surface brightnesses consistent with known ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (μ ≳ 27.5 {mag} {arcsec}-2). Roughly half of the DES candidates are more distant, less luminous, and/or have lower surface brightnesses than previously known Milky Way satellite galaxies. Most of the candidates are found in the southern part of the DES footprint close to the Magellanic Clouds. We find that the DES data alone exclude (p < 10-3) a spatially isotropic distribution of Milky Way satellites and that the observed distribution can be well, though not uniquely, described by an association between several of the DES satellites and the Magellanic system. Our model predicts that the full sky may hold ˜100 ultra-faintgalaxies with physical properties comparable to the DES satellites and that 20%-30% of these would be spatially associated with the Magellanic Clouds.

The galactic spectral evolutionary models of Bruzual A. (1981) are employed to estimate parameters which will be observable by the wide-field camera and faint-object camera of the Space Telescope. The capabilities and bandpasses of the instruments are reviewed, and the results are presented in tables and graphs. Parameters calculated include the amplitude of the Lyman discontinuity at 912 A, stellar and galaxy rest-frame colors, color evolution, two-color diagrams as a function of redshift, luminosity evolution, surface brightness profiles, galaxy counts, and color and redshift distributions. In general, it is predicted that the space measurements will follow the trends noted in round-based observations.

We present the results of SCUBA-2 observations at 450 {mu}m and 850 {mu}m of the field lensed by the massive cluster A370. With a total survey area >100 arcmin{sup 2} and 1{sigma} sensitivities of 3.92 and 0.82 mJy beam{sup -1} at 450 and 850 {mu}m, respectively, we find a secure sample of 20 sources at 450 {mu}m and 26 sources at 850 {mu}m with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) > 4. Using the latest lensing model of A370 and Monte Carlo simulations, we derive the number counts at both wavelengths. The 450 {mu}m number counts probe a factor of four deeper than the counts recently obtained from the Herschel Space Telescope at similar wavelengths, and we estimate that {approx}47%-61% of the 450 {mu}m extragalactic background light resolved into individual sources with 450 {mu}m fluxes greater than 4.5 mJy. The faint 450 {mu}m sources in the 4{sigma} sample have positional accuracies of 3 arcsec, while brighter sources (S/N >6{sigma}) are good to 1.4 arcsec. Using a deep radio map (1{sigma} {approx} 6 {mu}Jy) we find that the percentage of submillimeter sources having secure radio counterparts is 85% for 450 {mu}m sources with intrinsic fluxes >6 mJy and 67% for 850 {mu}m sources with intrinsic fluxes >4 mJy. We also find that 67% of the >4{sigma} 450 {mu}m sources are detected at 850 {mu}m, while the recovery rate at 450 {mu}m of >4{sigma} 850 {mu}m sources is 54%. Combined with the source redshifts estimated using millimetric flux ratios, the recovered rate is consistent with the scenario where both 450 {mu}m and 20 cm emission preferentially select lower redshift dusty sources, while 850 {mu}m emission traces a higher fraction of dusty sources at higher redshifts. We identify potential counterparts in various wavelengths from X-ray to mid-infrared and measure the multiwavelength photometry, which we then use to analyze the characteristics of the sources. We find three X-ray counterparts to our robust submillimeter sample (S/N > 5), giving an active galactic nucleus

We address the problem of separating stars from galaxies in future large photometric surveys. We focus our analysis on simulations of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). In the first part of the paper, we derive the science requirements on star/galaxy separation, for measurement of the cosmological parameters with the Gravitational Weak Lensing and Large Scale Structure probes. These requirements are dictated by the need to control both the statistical and systematic errors on the cosmological parameters, and by Point Spread Function calibration. We formulate the requirements in terms of the completeness and purity provided by a given star/galaxy classifier. In order to achieve these requirements at faint magnitudes, we propose a new method for star/galaxy separation in the second part of the paper. We first use Principal Component Analysis to outline the correlations between the objects parameters and extract from it the most relevant information. We then use the reduced set of parameters as input to an Artificial Neural Network. This multi-parameter approach improves upon purely morphometric classifiers (such as the classifier implemented in SExtractor), especially at faint magnitudes: it increases the purity by up to 20% for stars and by up to 12% for galaxies, at i-magnitude fainter than 23.

We address the problem of separating stars from galaxies in future large photometric surveys. We focus our analysis on simulations of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). In the first part of the paper, we derive the science requirements on star/galaxy separation, for measurement of the cosmological parameters with the gravitational weak lensing and large-scale structure probes. These requirements are dictated by the need to control both the statistical and systematic errors on the cosmological parameters, and by point spread function calibration. We formulate the requirements in terms of the completeness and purity provided by a given star/galaxy classifier. In order to achieve these requirements at faint magnitudes, we propose a new method for star/galaxy separation in the second part of the paper. We first use principal component analysis to outline the correlations between the objects parameters and extract from it the most relevant information. We then use the reduced set of parameters as input to an Artificial Neural Network. This multiparameter approach improves upon purely morphometric classifiers (such as the classifier implemented in SEXTRACTOR), especially at faint magnitudes: it increases the purity by up to 20 per cent for stars and by up to 12 per cent for galaxies, at i-magnitude fainter than 23.

The nature of faint blue objects (FBO's) has been a source of much speculation since their detection in deep CCD images of the sky. Their high surface density argues against them being progenitors of present-day bright galaxies and since they are only weakly clustered on small scales, they cannot be entities that merged together to form present-day galaxies. Babul & Rees (1992) have suggested that the observed faint blue counts may be due to dwarf elliptical galaxies undergoing their initial starburst at z is approximately equal to 1. In generic hierarchical clustering scenarios, however, dwarf galaxy halos (M is approximately 10(exp 9) solar mass) are expected to form at an earlier epoch; for example, typical 10(exp 9) solar mass halos will virialize at z is approximately equal to 2.3 if the power-spectrum for the density fluctuations is that of the standard b = 2 cold dark matter (CDM) model. Under 'ordinary conditions' the gas would rapidly cool, collect in the cores, and undergo star-formation. Conditions at high redshifts are far from 'ordinary'. The intense UV background will prevent the gas in the dwarf halos from cooling, the halos being released from their suspended state only when the UV flux has diminished sufficiently.

We present an analysis of the detectability of faint tidal features in galaxies from the wide-field component of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. Our sample consists of 1781 luminous (M{sub r{sup '}}galaxies in the magnitude range 15.5 mag < r' < 17 mag and in the redshift range 0.04 < z < 0.2. Although we have classified tidal features according to their morphology (e.g., streams, shells, and tails), we do not attempt to interpret them in terms of their physical origin (e.g., major versus minor merger debris). Instead, we provide a catalog that is intended to provide raw material for future investigations which will probe the nature of low surface brightness substructure around galaxies. We find that around 12% of the galaxies in our sample show clear tidal features at the highest confidence level. This fraction rises to about 18% if we include systems with convincing, albeit weaker tidal features, and to 26% if we include systems with more marginal features that may or may not be tidal in origin. These proportions are a strong function of rest-frame color and of stellar mass. Linear features, shells, and fans are much more likely to occur in massive galaxies with stellar masses >10{sup 10.5} M {sub Sun }, and red galaxies are twice as likely to show tidal features than are blue galaxies.

We present an analysis of the detectability of faint tidal features in galaxies from the wide-field component of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. Our sample consists of 1781 luminous (M_{r^\\prime }galaxies in the magnitude range 15.5 mag < r' < 17 mag and in the redshift range 0.04 < z < 0.2. Although we have classified tidal features according to their morphology (e.g., streams, shells, and tails), we do not attempt to interpret them in terms of their physical origin (e.g., major versus minor merger debris). Instead, we provide a catalog that is intended to provide raw material for future investigations which will probe the nature of low surface brightness substructure around galaxies. We find that around 12% of the galaxies in our sample show clear tidal features at the highest confidence level. This fraction rises to about 18% if we include systems with convincing, albeit weaker tidal features, and to 26% if we include systems with more marginal features that may or may not be tidal in origin. These proportions are a strong function of rest-frame color and of stellar mass. Linear features, shells, and fans are much more likely to occur in massive galaxies with stellar masses >1010.5 M ⊙, and red galaxies are twice as likely to show tidal features than are blue galaxies.

Context. Low-mass dwarf spheroidal galaxies are key objects for our understanding of the chemical evolution of the pristine Universe and the Local Group of galaxies. Abundance ratios in stars of these objects can be used to better understand their star formation and chemical evolution. Aims: We report on the analysis of a sample of 11 stars belonging to five different ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies (UfDSph) that is based on X-Shooter spectra obtained at the VLT. Methods: Medium-resolution spectra have been used to determine the detailed chemical composition of their atmosphere. We performed a standard 1D LTE analysis to compute the abundances. Results: Considering all the stars as representative of the same population of low-mass galaxies, we found that the [α/Fe] ratios vs.s [Fe/H] decreases as the metallicity of the star increases in a way similar to that which is found for the population of stars that belong to dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The main difference is that the solar [α/Fe] is reached at a much lower metallicity for the UfDSph than for the dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We report for the first time the abundance of strontium in CVn II. The star we analyzed in this galaxy has a very high [Sr/Fe] and a very low upper limit of barium which makes it a star with an exceptionally high [Sr/Ba] ratio.

We report the discovery of a new faint dwarf galaxy, which we dub Scl-MM-Dw1, at a projected distance of ∼65 kpc from the spiral galaxy NGC 253. The discovery results from the Panoramic Imaging Survey of Centaurus and Sculptor (PISCeS), a program with the Magellan/Megacam imager to study faint substructure in resolved stellar light around massive galaxies outside of the Local Group. We measure a tip of the red giant branch distance to Scl-MM-Dw1 of D = 3.9 ± 0.5 Mpc, consistent with that of NGC 253, making their association likely. The new dwarf's stellar population is complex, with an old, metal-poor red giant branch (≳10 Gyr, [Fe/H] ∼ –2), and an asymptotic giant branch with an age of ∼500 Myr. Scl-MM-Dw1 has a half-light radius of r{sub h} = 340 ± 50 pc and an absolute magnitude of M{sub V} = –10.3 ± 0.6 mag, comparable to the Milky Way's satellites at the same luminosity. Once complete, our imaging survey of NGC 253 and other nearby massive galaxies will provide a census of faint substructure in halos beyond the Local Group, both to put our own environment into context and to confront models of hierarchical structure formation.

We present a chemical abundance study of the brightest confirmed member star of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Boötes II from Keck/HIRES high-resolution spectroscopy at moderate signal-to-noise ratios. At [Fe/H] = -2.93 ± 0.03(stat.) ± 0.17(sys.), this star chemically resembles metal-poor halo field stars and the signatures of other faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies at the same metallicities in that it shows enhanced [α/Fe] ratios, Solar Fe-peak element abundances, and low upper limits on the neutron-capture element Ba. Moreover, this star shows no chemical peculiarities in any of the eight elements we were able to measure. This implies that the chemical outliers found in other systems remain outliers pertaining to the unusual enrichment histories of the respective environments, while Boo II appears to have experienced an enrichment history typical of its very low mass. We also re-calibrated previous measurements of the galaxy's metallicity from the calcium triplet (CaT) and find a much lower value than reported before. The resulting broad metallicity spread, in excess of one dex, the very metal-poor mean, and the chemical abundance patterns of the present star imply that Boötes II is a low-mass, old, metal-poor dwarf galaxy and not an overdensity associated with the Sagittarius Stream as has been previously suggested based on its sky position and kinematics. The low, mean CaT metallicity of -2.7 dex falls right on the luminosity-metallicity relation delineated over four orders of magnitude from the more luminous to the faintest galaxies. Thus Boötes II's chemical enrichment appears representative of the galaxy's original mass, while tidal stripping and other mass loss mechanisms were probably not significant as for other low-mass satellites.

We present a chemical abundance study of the brightest confirmed member star of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Boötes II from Keck/HIRES high-resolution spectroscopy at moderate signal-to-noise ratios. At [Fe/H] = –2.93 ± 0.03(stat.) ± 0.17(sys.), this star chemically resembles metal-poor halo field stars and the signatures of other faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies at the same metallicities in that it shows enhanced [α/Fe] ratios, Solar Fe-peak element abundances, and low upper limits on the neutron-capture element Ba. Moreover, this star shows no chemical peculiarities in any of the eight elements we were able to measure. This implies that the chemical outliers found in other systems remain outliers pertaining to the unusual enrichment histories of the respective environments, while Boo II appears to have experienced an enrichment history typical of its very low mass. We also re-calibrated previous measurements of the galaxy's metallicity from the calcium triplet (CaT) and find a much lower value than reported before. The resulting broad metallicity spread, in excess of one dex, the very metal-poor mean, and the chemical abundance patterns of the present star imply that Boötes II is a low-mass, old, metal-poor dwarf galaxy and not an overdensity associated with the Sagittarius Stream as has been previously suggested based on its sky position and kinematics. The low, mean CaT metallicity of –2.7 dex falls right on the luminosity-metallicity relation delineated over four orders of magnitude from the more luminous to the faintest galaxies. Thus Boötes II's chemical enrichment appears representative of the galaxy's original mass, while tidal stripping and other mass loss mechanisms were probably not significant as for other low-mass satellites.

We searched for variable stars in Hydra II, one of the recently discovered ultra-faint dwarf satellites of the Milky Way, using gri time-series obtained with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. We discovered one RR Lyrae star in the galaxy which was used to derive a distance of 154±8 kpc to this system and to re-calculate its absolute magnitude and half-light radius.A comparison with other RR Lyrae stars in ultra-faint systems indicates similar pulsational properties among them, which are different to those found among halo field stars and those in the largest of the Milky Way satellites. We also report the discovery of 31 additional short period variables in the field of view (RR Lyrae, SX Phe, eclipsing binaries, and a likely anomalous cepheid) which are likely not related with Hydra II.

We performed BVRI photometry of the galaxy M 32 building images and isophote maps in magnitudes and in color indexes. While searching for the faint thick disk of M 32 we apply median filtering with aperture of 7.3 arcmin to detach the residual image of M 32 and its periphery above the surrounding magnitude or color background. The residual images in all photometric systems show that the periphery of M 32 possesses a comet-like shape with a tail oriented to SSE, in a direction opposite to the direction of M 110. The images calibrated in color indexes (b - v) and (b - v)+(r - i) show that the tail is redder than the local median background. The residual images in color indexes show that the red tail broadens and curves in direction towards S and SW. Simultaneously, the brightest part of M 32 occurs bounded from NW-NE-SE sides by a sickle-like formation with a significantly lower red color index. Generally, we do not find a faint thick disk of M 32. However, the comet-like shape on the periphery of M 32, especially as a formation with an increased red color index, provokes involuntarily the impression that the satellite M 32 overtakes the Andromeda galaxy. The redshifts show that the intimacy velocity of M 32 and Andromeda galaxy is about 100 km/s.

The high dark matter content and the shallow potential wells of low mass galaxies (10^3 Msun < Mstar < 10^9.5 Msun) make them excellent testbeds for differing theories of galaxy formation. Additionally, the recent up-tick in the number and detail of Local Group dwarf galaxy observations provides a rich dataset for comparison to simulations that attempt to answer important questions in near field cosmology: why are there so few observed dwarfs compared to the number predicted by simulations? What shuts down star formation in ultra-faintgalaxies? Why do dwarfs have inverted age gradients and what does it take to convert a dwarf irregular (dIrrs) into a dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy?We to attempt to answer these questions by running ultra-high resolution cosmological FIRE simulations of isolated dwarf galaxies. We predict that many ultra-faint dwarfs should exist as satellites of more massive isolated Local Group dwarfs. The ultra-faints (Mstar < 10^4 Msun) formed in these simulations have uniformly ancient stellar populations (> 10 Gyr), having had their star formation shut down by reionization. Additionally, we show that the kinematics and ellipticities of isolated simulated dwarf centrals are consistent with observed dSphs satellites without the need for harassment from a massive host. We further show that most (but not all) observed *isolated* dIrrs in the Local Volume also have dispersion-supported stellar populations, contradicting the previous view that these objects are rotating. Finally, we investigate the stellar age gradients in dwarfs — showing that early mergers and strong feedback can create an inverted gradient, with the older stars occupying larger galactocentric radii.These results offer an interesting direction in testing models that attempt to solve dark matter problems via explosive feedback episodes. Can the same models that create large cores in simulated dwarfs preserve the mild stellar rotation that is seen in a minority of isolated d

We report the discovery of a new faint dwarf galaxy, GHOSTS I, using HST/ACS data from one of our GHOSTS (Galaxy Halos, Outer disks, Substructure, Thick disk, and Star clusters) fields. Its detected individual stars populate an approximately 1 mag range of its luminosity function (LF). Using synthetic color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) to compare with the galaxy's CMD, we find that the colors and magnitudes of GHOSTS I's individual stars are most consistent with being young helium-burning and asymptotic giant branch stars at a distance of ∼12 ± 2 Mpc. Morphologically, GHOSTS I appears to be actively forming stars, so we tentatively classify it as a dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxy, although future Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations deep enough to resolve a larger magnitude range in its LF are required to make a more secure classification. GHOSTS I's absolute magnitude is M{sub V}∼−9.85{sub −0.33}{sup +0.40}, making it one of the least luminous dIrr galaxies known, and its metallicity is lower than [Fe/H] = –1.5 dex. The half-light radius of GHOSTS I is 226 ± 38 pc and its ellipticity is 0.47 ± 0.07, similar to Milky Way and M31 dwarf satellites at comparable luminosity. There are no luminous massive galaxies or galaxy clusters within ∼4 Mpc from GHOSTS I that could be considered as its host, making it a very isolated dwarf galaxy in the local universe.

Using numerical cosmological simulations completed under the “Cosmic Reionization On Computers” project, I explore theoretical predictions for the faint end of the galaxy UV luminosity functions at z≳ 6. A commonly used Schechter function approximation with the magnitude cut at {M}{{cut}}˜ -13 provides a reasonable fit to the actual luminosity function of simulated galaxies. When the Schechter functional form is forced on the luminosity functions from the simulations, the magnitude cut {M}{{cut}} is found to vary between ‑12 and ‑14 with a mild redshift dependence. An analytical model of reionization from Madau et al., as used by Robertson et al., provides a good description of the simulated results, which can be improved even further by adding two physically motivated modifications to the original Madau et al. equation.

Using numerical cosmological simulations completed under the “Cosmic Reionization On Computers” project, I explore theoretical predictions for the faint end of the galaxy UV luminosity functions atmore » $$z\\gtrsim 6$$. A commonly used Schechter function approximation with the magnitude cut at $${M}_{{\\rm{cut}}}\\sim -13$$ provides a reasonable fit to the actual luminosity function of simulated galaxies. When the Schechter functional form is forced on the luminosity functions from the simulations, the magnitude cut $${M}_{{\\rm{cut}}}$$ is found to vary between -12 and -14 with a mild redshift dependence. Here, an analytical model of reionization from Madau et al., as used by Robertson et al., provides a good description of the simulated results, which can be improved even further by adding two physically motivated modifications to the original Madau et al. equation.« less

By using ASCA and Chandra, we discovered a bright X-ray source M82 X-1 in the starburst galaxyM82. The peak luminosity of ˜ 1× 1041 ergs sec-1 and the location of off-center position of M82 in the starburst galaxyM82 suggest that M82 X-1 is a new type of black hole, intermediate massive black hole (IMBH). We also found an expanding molecular super bubble (EMSB) surrounding the IMBH. We propose a hypothesis that the IMBH was formed in the starburst activity 10^6˜ 10^7 yrs ago. We review the course of the discovery and show recent progress on studies of the X-ray spectrum and the position of M82 X-1.

We present chemical abundance measurements of two metal-poor red giant stars in the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Boötes I, based on Magellan/MIKE high-resolution spectra. For Boo-980, with {{[Fe/H]}}=-3.1, we present the first elemental abundance measurements, while Boo-127, with {{[Fe/H]}}=-2.0, shows abundances in good agreement with previous measurements. Light and iron-peak element abundance ratios in the two Boötes I stars, as well as those of most other Boötes I members, collected from the literature, closely resemble those of regular metal-poor halo stars. Neutron-capture element abundances Sr and Ba are systematically lower than the main halo trend and also show a significant abundance spread. Overall, this is similar to what has been found for other ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. We apply corrections to the carbon abundances (commensurate with stellar evolutionary status) of the entire sample and find 21% of stars to be carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars, compared to 13% without using the carbon correction. We reassess the metallicity distribution functions for the CEMP stars and non-CEMP stars, and confirm earlier claims that CEMP stars might belong to a different, earlier population. Applying a set of abundance criteria to test to what extent Boötes I could be a surviving first galaxy suggests that it is one of the earliest assembled systems that perhaps received gas from accretion from other clouds in the system, or from swallowing a first galaxy or building block type object. This resulted in the two stellar populations observable today. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

The nearby starburst galaxiesM82 & NGC 253 were observed by the RXTE satellite during the period February - November 1997. Data reduction and analysis began in summer 1998, and continued through March 1999. The spectral analysis indicates that the main emission in these galaxies is from hot gas. We find a considerable degree of variability in the emission from M82, possibly due to M81 (a known AGN) in the FOV. The main spectral parameters were determined for both sources. The results of the analysis were reported in the March 1999 meeting of the AAS. Summary of the data analysis, theoretical modeling, and interpretation will be presented in a paper which is currently being prepared for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.

Cold, diffuse HI clouds are a key component of the interstellar medium (ISM), and play an important role in the evolution of galaxies. Carbon radio recombination lines (CRRLs) trace this ISM stage, and with the enormous sensitivity of LOFAR we have already begun to map and constrain the physical properties of this gas in our own Galaxy. Using LOFAR's low band antenna, we have observed M82 and present the first ever extragalactic detection of CRRLs. We stack 22 lines to find a 8.5-sigma detection. The line peak to continuum ratio is ~0.003, with a FWHM of 31 km s-1. The CRRL feature is consistent with an origin in the cold, neutral medium in the direction of the nucleus of M82.

Results are presented from a multifrequency radio continumm survey of Markarian galaxies (MRKs) and are supplemented by IRAS infrared data from the Faint Source Survey. Radio data are presented for 899 MRKs observed at nu = 4.755 GHz with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)-Green Bank 300 foot (91 m) telescope, including nearly 88% of those objects in Markarian lists VI-XIV. In addition, 1.415 GHz measurements of 258 MRKs, over 30% of the MRKs accessible from the National Aeronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC)-Arecibo, are reported. Radio continuum observations of smaller numbers of MRKs were made at 10.63 GHz and at 23.1 GHz and are also presented. Infrared data from the IRAS Faint Source Survey (Ver. 2) are presented for 944 MRKs, with reasonably secure identifications extracted from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. MRKs exhibit the same canonical infrared characteristics as those reported for various other galaxy samples, that is well-known enhancement of the 25 micrometer/60 micrometer color ratio among Seyfert MRKs, and a clear tendency for MRKs with warmer 60 micrometer/100 micrometer colors to also possess cooler 12 micrometer/25 micrometer colors. In addition, non-Seyfert are found to obey the well-documented infrared/radio luminosity correlation, with the tightest correlation seen for starburst MRKs.

We report the discovery of one RR Lyrae star in the ultra-faint satellite galaxy Hydra II based on time series photometry in the g, r and i bands obtained with the Dark Energy Camera at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. The association of the RR Lyrae star discovered here with Hydra II is clear because is located at 42\\prime\\prime from the center of the dwarf, well within its half-light radius of 102\\prime\\prime . The RR Lyrae star has a mean magnitude of i=21.30+/- 0.04 which is too faint to be a field halo star. This magnitude translates to a heliocentric distance of 151 ± 8 kpc for Hydra II; this value is ∼ 13% larger than the estimate from the discovery paper based on the average magnitude of several blue horizontal branch star candidates. The new distance implies a slightly larger half-light radius of {76}-10+12 pc and a brighter absolute magnitude of {M}V=-5.1+/- 0.3, which keeps this object within the realm of the dwarf galaxies. A comparison with other RR Lyrae stars in ultra-faint systems indicates similar pulsational properties among them, which are different to those found among halo field stars and those in the largest of the Milky Way satellites. We also report the discovery of 31 additional short period variables in the field of view (RR Lyrae, SX Phe, eclipsing binaries, and a likely anomalous cepheid) which are likely not related with Hydra II.

The properties of satellite galaxies are closely related to their host galaxies in galaxy groups. In cluster environments, on the other hand, the interaction between close neighbors is known to be limited. Our goal is to examine the relationships between host and satellite galaxies in the harsh environment of a galaxy cluster. To achieve this goal, we study a galaxy cluster WHL J085910.0+294957 at z = 0.30 using deep images obtained with CQUEAN CCD camera mounted on the 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope. After member selection based on the scaling relations of photometric and structural parameters, we investigate the relationship between bright (M{sub i} ≤ –18) galaxies and their faint (–18 < M{sub i} ≤ –15) companions. The weighted mean color of faint companion galaxies shows no significant dependence (<1σ to bootstrap uncertainties) on cluster-centric distance and local luminosity density as well as the luminosity and concentration of an adjacent bright galaxy. However, the weighted mean color shows marginal dependence (∼2.2σ) on the color of an adjacent bright galaxy when the sample is limited to bright galaxies with at least two faint companions. By using a permutation test, we confirm that the correlation in color between bright galaxies and their faint companions in this cluster is statistically significant with a confidence level of 98.7%. The statistical significance increases if we additionally remove non-members using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric redshift information (∼2.6σ and 99.3%). Our results suggest three possible scenarios: (1) vestiges of infallen groups, (2) dwarf capturing, and (3) tidal tearing of bright galaxies.

We present new constraints on the star formation histories of six ultra-faint dwarf galaxies: Bootes I, Canes Venatici II, Coma Berenices, Hercules, Leo IV, and Ursa Major I. Our analysis employs a combination of high-precision photometry obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope, medium-resolution spectroscopy obtained with the DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph on the W. M. Keck Observatory, and updated Victoria-Regina isochrones tailored to the abundance patterns appropriate for these galaxies. The data for five of these Milky Way satellites are best fit by a star formation history where at least 75% of the stars formed by z ~ 10 (13.3 Gyr ago). All of the galaxies are consistent with 80% of the stars forming by z ~ 6 (12.8 Gyr ago) and 100% of the stars forming by z ~ 3 (11.6 Gyr ago). The similarly ancient populations of these galaxies support the hypothesis that star formation in the smallest dark-matter sub-halos was suppressed by a global outside influence, such as the reionization of the universe. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program GO-12549.

We present new constraints on the star formation histories of six ultra-faint dwarf galaxies: Bootes I, Canes Venatici II, Coma Berenices, Hercules, Leo IV, and Ursa Major I. Our analysis employs a combination of high-precision photometry obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope, medium-resolution spectroscopy obtained with the DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph on the W. M. Keck Observatory, and updated Victoria-Regina isochrones tailored to the abundance patterns appropriate for these galaxies. The data for five of these Milky Way satellites are best fit by a star formation history where at least 75% of the stars formed by z ∼ 10 (13.3 Gyr ago). All of the galaxies are consistent with 80% of the stars forming by z ∼ 6 (12.8 Gyr ago) and 100% of the stars forming by z ∼ 3 (11.6 Gyr ago). The similarly ancient populations of these galaxies support the hypothesis that star formation in the smallest dark-matter sub-halos was suppressed by a global outside influence, such as the reionization of the universe.

We construct a family of models for the evolution of energetic particles in the starburst galaxyM82 and compare them to observations to test the calorimeter assumption that all cosmic ray energy is radiated in the starburst region. Assuming constant cosmic ray acceleration efficiency with Milky Way parameters, we calculate the cosmic-ray proton and primary and secondary electron/positron populations as a function of energy. Cosmic rays are injected with Galactic energy distributions and electron-to-proton ratio via Type II supernovae at the observed rate of 0.07 yr{sup -1}. From the cosmic ray spectra, we predict the radio synchrotron and {gamma}-ray spectra. To more accurately model the radio spectrum, we incorporate a multiphase interstellar medium in the starburst region of M82. Our model interstellar medium is highly fragmented with compact dense molecular clouds and dense photoionized gas, both embedded in a hot, low density medium in overall pressure equilibrium. The spectra predicted by this one-zone model are compared to the observed radio and {gamma}-ray spectra of M82. {chi}{sup 2} tests are used with radio and {gamma}-ray observations and a range of model predictions to find the best-fit parameters. The best-fit model yields constraints on key parameters in the starburst zone of M82, including a magnetic field strength of {approx}250 {mu}G and a wind advection speed in the range of 300-700 km s{sup -1}. We find that M82 is a good electron calorimeter but not an ideal cosmic-ray proton calorimeter and discuss the implications of our results for the astrophysics of the far-infrared-radio correlation in starburst galaxies.

The 7" resolution CO observations of the central 1 kpc of M82 have resolved 2 components of molecular gas: (1) a high concentration in the central 700 pc x 200 pc, and (2) extended features that may be gas expelled from the central concentration. The central concentration of molecular gas falls in the same confines as the other tracers of recent star formation, and may be identified directly with the star burst region. The molecular gas in the star burst nucleus of M82 appears to be highly disturbed and has high kinetic temperature, likely consequences of the high density of young star clusters. Stellar winds and subsequent supernovae from the star clusters can effectively sweep up the interstellar medium. The spatial distribution and kinematics of the nuclear concentration of the molecular gas, as well as the 2 micron light distribution, suggest the presence of a stellar bar in M82. Comparisons of the M82 star burst nucleus to a sample of IR luminous galaxies suggest that star burst regions in general may have a higher gas temperature and much higher L sub IR/M sub H2 that the galactic disk, and that the L sub IR of the star burst regions may be essentially proportional to their area.

The rate of mass accumulation due to galaxy merging depends on the mass, density, and velocity distribution of galaxies in the near neighborhood of a host galaxy. The fractional luminosity in kinematic pairs combines all of these effects in a single estimator that is relatively insensitive to population evolution. Here we use a k-corrected and evolution-compensated volume-limited sample having an R-band absolute magnitude of Mk,eR=-19.8+5logh mag drawing about 300 redshifts from the Caltech FaintGalaxy Redshift Survey and 3000 from the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology field galaxy survey to measure the rate and redshift evolution of merging. The combined sample has an approximately constant comoving number and luminosity density from redshift 0.1 to 1.1 (OmegaM=0.2, OmegaLambda=0.8); hence, any merger evolution will be dominated by correlation and velocity evolution, not density evolution. We identify kinematic pairs with projected separations less than either 50 or 100 h-1 kpc and rest-frame velocity differences of less than 1000 km s-1. The fractional luminosity in pairs is modeled as fL&parl0;Deltav,rp,Mk,er&parr0;&parl0;1+z&parr0;mL, where &sqbl0;fL,mL&sqbr0; are &sqbl0;0.14+/-0.07,0+/-1.4&sqbr0; and &sqbl0;0.37+/-0.7,0.1+/-0.5&sqbr0; for rp=50 and 100 h-1 kpc, respectively (OmegaM=0.2, OmegaLambda=0.8). The value of mL is about 0.6 larger if Lambda=0. To convert these redshift-space statistics to a merger rate, we use the data to derive a conversion factor to a physical space pair density, a merger probability, and a mean in-spiral time. The resulting mass accretion rate per galaxy (M1,M2>/=0.2M*) is 0.02+/-0.01&parl0;1+z&parr0;0.1+/-0.5M* Gyr-1. Present-day high-luminosity galaxies therefore have accreted approximately 0.15M* of their mass over the approximately 7 Gyr to redshift 1. Since merging is likely only weakly dependent on the host mass, the fractional effect, deltaM&solm0;M approximately 0.15M*&solm0;M, is dramatic for lower mass

We present deep Hα imaging of three nearby dwarf galaxies, carefully selected to optimize observations with the Maryland-Magellan Tunable Filter (MMTF) on the Magellan 6.5 m telescope. An effective bandpass of ˜13 Å is used, and the images reach 3σ flux limits of ˜8 × 10-18 erg s-1 cm-2, which is about an order of magnitude lower than standard narrowband observations obtained by the most recent generation of local Hα galaxy surveys. The observations were originally motivated by the finding that the Hα/FUV flux ratio of galaxies systematically declines as global galactic properties such as the star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass decrease. The three dwarf galaxies selected for study have SFRs that, when calculated from their Hα luminosities using standard conversion recipes, are ˜50% of those based on the FUV. Follow-up studies of many of the potential causes for the trends in the Hα/FUV flux ratio have been performed, but the possibility that previous observations have missed a non-negligible fraction of faint ionized emission in dwarf galaxies has not been investigated. The MMTF observations reveal both diffuse and structured Hα emission (filaments, shells, possible single-star H ii regions) spanning extents up to 2.5 times larger relative to previous observations. However, only up to an additional ˜5% of Hα flux is captured, which does not account for the trends in the Hα/FUV ratio. Beyond investigation of the Hα/FUV ratio, the impact of the newly detected extended flux on our understanding of star formation, the properties of H ii regions, and the propagation of ionizing photons warrant further investigation.

In hierarchical models, where spheroidal galaxies are primarily produced via a continuous merging of disc galaxies, the number of intrinsically red systems at faint limits will be substantially lower than in `traditional' models where the bulk of star formation was completed at high redshifts. In this paper we analyse the optical-near-infrared colour distribution of a large flux-limited sample of field spheroidal galaxies identified morphologically from archival Hubble Space Telescope data. The I_814-HK' colour distribution for a sample jointly limited at I_814<23mag and HK'<19.5mag is used to constrain their star formation history. We compare visual and automated methods for selecting spheroidals from our deep HST images and, in both cases, detect a significant deficit of intrinsically red spheroidals relative to the predictions of high-redshift monolithic-collapse models. However, the overall space density of spheroidals (irrespective of colour) is not substantially different from that seen locally. Spectral synthesis modelling of our results suggests that high-redshift spheroidals are dominated by evolved stellar populations polluted by some amount of subsidiary star formation. Despite its effect on the optical-infrared colour, this star formation probably makes only a modest contribution to the overall stellar mass. We briefly discuss the implications of our results in the context of earlier predictions based on models where spheroidals assemble hierarchically.

Cold Dark Matter (CDM) models struggle to match the observations at galactic scales. The tension can be reduced either by dramatic baryonic feedback effects or by modifying the particle physics of CDM. Here, we consider an ultra-light scalar field DM particle manifesting a wave nature below a DM particle mass-dependent Jeans scale. For DM mass m ˜ 10-22 eV, this scenario delays galaxy formation and avoids cusps in the centre of the dark matter haloes. We use new measurements of half-light mass in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies Draco II and Triangulum II to estimate the mass of the DM particle in this model. We find that if the stellar populations are within the core of the density profile then the data are in agreement with a Wave Dark Matter model having a DM particle with m ˜ 3.7-5.6 × 10-22 eV. The presence of this extremely light particle will contribute to the formation of a central solitonic core replacing the cusp of a Navarro-Frenk-White profile and bringing predictions closer to observations of cored central density in dwarf galaxies.

We present deep infrared mosaics of the nearby edge-on spiral galaxies NGC 891, 4244, 4565, and 5907. These data were acquired at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 microns using the Infrared Array Camera aboard Spitzer as part of GTO program number 3. This effort is designed to detect the putative faint, diffuse emission from halos and thick disks of spiral galaxies in the near-mid infrared under the thermally stable, low-background conditions of space. These conditions in combination with the advantageous viewing angles presented by these well-known edge-on spirals provide arguably the best opportunity to characterize the halo/thick disk components of such galaxies in the infrared. In this contribution we describe our observations, data reduction techniques, corrections for artifacts in the data, and the modeling approach we applied to analyze this unique dataset. This work is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Support for this work was provided by NASA through an award issued by JPL/Caltech.

Cold Dark Matter (CDM) models struggle to match the observations at galactic scales. The tension can be reduced either by dramatic baryonic feedback effects or by modifying the particle physics of CDM. Here, we consider an ultra-light scalar field DM particle manifesting a wave nature below a DM particle mass-dependent Jeans scale. For DM mass $m\\sim10^{-22}{\\rm eV}$, this scenario delays galaxy formation and avoids cusps in the center of the dark matter haloes. We use new measurements of half-light mass in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies Draco II and Triangulum II to estimate the mass of the DM particle in this model. We find that if the stellar populations are within the core of the density profile then the data are in agreement with a wave dark matter model having a DM particle with $m\\sim 3.7-5.6\\times 10^{-22}{\\rm eV}$. The presence of this extremely light particle will contribute to the formation of a central solitonic core replacing the cusp of a Navarro-Frenk-White profile and bringing predictions closer to observations of cored central density in dwarf galaxies.

With this study, we present Magellan/M2FS, Very Large Telescope/GIRAFFE, and Gemini South/GMOS spectroscopy of the newly discovered Milky Way satellite Reticulum II. Based on the spectra of 25 Ret II member stars selected from Dark Energy Survey imaging, we measure a mean heliocentric velocity of $62.8\\pm 0.5\\;\\mathrm{km}\\;{{\\rm{s}}}^{-1}$ and a velocity dispersion of $3.3\\pm 0.7\\;\\mathrm{km}\\;{{\\rm{s}}}^{-1}$. The mass-to-light ratio of Ret II within its half-light radius is $470\\pm 210\\ {M}_{\\odot }/{L}_{\\odot }$, demonstrating that it is a strongly dark matter-dominated system. Despite its spatial proximity to the Magellanic Clouds, the radial velocity of Ret II differs from that of the LMC and SMC by 199 and 83 $\\mathrm{km}\\ {{\\rm{s}}}^{-1}$, respectively, suggesting that it is not gravitationally bound to the Magellanic system. The likely member stars of Ret II span 1.3 dex in metallicity, with a dispersion of 0.28 ± 0.09 dex, and we identify several extremely metal-poor stars with ${\\rm{[Fe/H]}}\\lt -3$. In combination with its luminosity, size, and ellipticity, these results confirm that Ret II is an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy. With a mean metallicity of ${\\rm{[Fe/H]}}=-2.65\\pm 0.07$, Ret II matches Segue 1 as the most metal-poor galaxy known. Although Ret II is the third-closest dwarf galaxy to the Milky Way, the line-of-sight integral of the dark matter density squared is ${\\mathrm{log}}_{10}(J)=18.8\\pm 0.6\\;\\;\\mathrm{GeV}{\\;}^{2}\\;{\\mathrm{cm}}^{-5}\\;$ within 0fdg2, indicating that the predicted gamma-ray flux from dark matter annihilation in Ret II is lower than that of several other dwarf galaxies.

We present Magellan/M2FS, Very Large Telescope/GIRAFFE, and Gemini South/GMOS spectroscopy of the newly discovered Milky Way satellite Reticulum II. Based on the spectra of 25 Ret II member stars selected from Dark Energy Survey imaging, we measure a mean heliocentric velocity of 62.8+/- 0.5 {km} {{{s}}}-1 and a velocity dispersion of 3.3+/- 0.7 {km} {{{s}}}-1. The mass-to-light ratio of Ret II within its half-light radius is 470+/- 210 {M}⊙ /{L}⊙ , demonstrating that it is a strongly dark matter-dominated system. Despite its spatial proximity to the Magellanic Clouds, the radial velocity of Ret II differs from that of the LMC and SMC by 199 and 83 {km} {{{s}}}-1, respectively, suggesting that it is not gravitationally bound to the Magellanic system. The likely member stars of Ret II span 1.3 dex in metallicity, with a dispersion of 0.28 ± 0.09 dex, and we identify several extremely metal-poor stars with {{[Fe/H]}}\\lt -3. In combination with its luminosity, size, and ellipticity, these results confirm that Ret II is an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy. With a mean metallicity of {{[Fe/H]}}=-2.65+/- 0.07, Ret II matches Segue 1 as the most metal-poor galaxy known. Although Ret II is the third-closest dwarf galaxy to the Milky Way, the line-of-sight integral of the dark matter density squared is {{log}}10(J)=18.8+/- 0.6 {GeV}{ }2 {{cm}}-5 within 0.°2, indicating that the predicted gamma-ray flux from dark matter annihilation in Ret II is lower than that of several other dwarf galaxies. Based on data obtained from the ESO Science Archive Facility under request number 157689.

In this Letter we present the first images of the emission of SiO and H13CO+ in the nucleus of the starburst galaxyM82. Contrary to other molecular species that mainly trace the distribution of the star-forming molecular gas within the disk, the SiO emission extends noticeably out of the galaxy plane. The bulk of the SiO emission is restricted to two major features. The first feature, referred to as the SiO supershell, is an open shell of 150 pc diameter, located 120 pc west from the galaxy center. The SiO supershell represents the inner front of a molecular shell expanding at ~40 km s-1, produced by mass ejection around a supercluster of young stars containing supernova remnant SNR 41.95+57.5. The second feature is a vertical filament, referred to as the SiO chimney, emanating from the disk at 200 pc east from the galaxy center. The SiO chimney reaches a 500 pc vertical height, and it is associated with the most prominent chimney identified in radio continuum maps. The kinematics, morphology, and fractional abundances of the SiO gas features in M82 can be explained in the framework of shocked chemistry driven by local episodes of gas ejection from the starburst disk. The SiO emission stands out as a privileged tracer of the disk-halo interface in M82. We speculate that the chimney and the supershell, each injecting ~107 Msolar of molecular gas, are two different evolutionary stages in the outflow phenomenon building up the gaseous halo. Based on observations carried out with the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) Plateau de Bure Interferometer. IRAM is supported by the Institut Nationale des Sciences de l'Univers/Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (France), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Germany), and Instituto Geografico Nacional (Spain).

As part of the Panoramic Imaging Survey of Centaurus and Sculptor (PISCeS), we report the discovery of a pair of faint dwarf galaxies (CenA-MM-Dw1 and CenA-MM-Dw2) at a projected distance of ∼90 kpc from the nearby elliptical galaxy NGC 5128 (CenA). We measure a tip of the red giant branch distance to each dwarf, finding D = 3.63 ± 0.41 Mpc for CenA-MM-Dw1 and D = 3.60 ± 0.41 Mpc for CenA-MM-Dw2, both of which are consistent with the distance to NGC 5128. A qualitative analysis of the color-magnitude diagrams indicates stellar populations consisting of an old, metal-poor red giant branch (≳12 Gyr, [Fe/H] ∼ –1.7 to –1.9). In addition, CenA-MM-Dw1 seems to host an intermediate-age population as indicated by its candidate asymptotic giant branch stars. The derived luminosities (M{sub V} = –10.9 ± 0.3 for CenA-MM-Dw1 and –8.4 ± 0.6 for CenA-MM-Dw2) and half-light radii (r{sub h} = 1.4 ± 0.04 kpc for CenA-MM-Dw1 and 0.36 ± 0.08 kpc for CenA-MM-Dw2) are consistent with those of Local Group dwarfs. CenA-MM-Dw1's low central surface brightness (μ {sub V,} {sub 0} = 27.3 ± 0.1 mag arcsec{sup –2}) places it among the faintest and most extended M31 satellites. Most intriguingly, CenA-MM-Dw1 and CenA-MM-Dw2 have a projected separation of only 3 arcmin (∼3 kpc): we are possibly observing the first, faint satellite of a satellite in an external group of galaxies.

) are provided. Further ground-based observations at attainable faint magnitudes (mV ≤ 23 mag) would be important. Star counts and (B - V) colors in several widely separated selected fields would permit a more accurate determination of the disk scale length and the spheroid star density and ellipticity. The most effective regions in which to make these observations are specified. The Galaxy model of the disk and spheroid is used to predict the star densities (in B and V) that may be observable with the aid of the Space Telescope down to very faint magnitudes. The stellar density to mV = 28 from the disk and spheroid is predicted to be 104 stars per square degree at the galactic pole. The predicted star counts are insensitive to many of the model parameters, although drastic changes in the shape of the luminosity function outside the presently determined magnitude range could produce measurable departures from the predicted star counts at faint magnitudes. The rotation curve computed solely from the disk and spheroid components decreases beyond about 10 kpc from the center of the Galaxy. A halo with even a relatively small mass density in the Solar neighborhood (ρHalo (Sun) = 0.01 Msun pc-3) can give rise to a flat rotation curve. The stellar content of such a halo would be revealed by observations with Space Telescope cameras if the halo consists of main sequence stars with MV ≲ 19.0 mag (existing observations imply MVMS ≳ 14.0 mag) or faint white dwarfs with MVWD ≲ 17.5 mag (existing observations imply MVWD ≳ 13.0 mag). Existing data imply (M/L)Halo ≳650 (Solar Visual units). The results for V magnitudes are described in the main text; the corresponding results for B magnitudes are summarized in Appendix A. A table of predicted differential and integrated star counts for both V and B magnitudes is given in Appendix B. Simple formulae that reproduce to an accuracy of 15% the predicted model star densities as a function of magnitude, latitude, and longitude

The Milky Way ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies contain some of the oldest, most metal-poor stars in the universe. We present [Mg/Fe], [Si/Fe], [Ca/Fe], [Ti/Fe], and mean [{alpha}/Fe] abundance ratios for 61 individual red giant branch stars across eight UFDs. This is the largest sample of alpha abundances published to date in galaxies with absolute magnitudes M{sub V} > -8, including the first measurements for Segue 1, Canes Venatici II, Ursa Major I, and Leo T. Abundances were determined via medium-resolution Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy and spectral synthesis. The sample spans the metallicity range -3.4 galaxies have undergone at least a limited level of chemical self-enrichment. Together with recent photometric studies, this suggests that star formation in the UFDs was not a single burst, but instead lasted at least as much as the minimum time delay of the onset of Type Ia supernovae ({approx}100 Myr) and less than {approx}2 Gyr. We further show that the combined population of UFDs has an [{alpha}/Fe] abundance pattern that is inconsistent with a flat, Galactic halo-like alpha abundance trend, and is also qualitatively different from that of the more luminous CVn I dSph, which does show a hint of a plateau at very low [Fe/H].

Type Ia SN 2014J exploded in the nearby starburst galaxyM82 = NGC 3032 and was discovered at Earth about seven days later on 2014 January 21, reaching maximum light in V around 2014 February 5. SN 2014J is the closest SN Ia in at least four decades and probably many more. Recent Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 imaging (2014 September 5 and 2015 February 2) of M82 in the vicinity of SN 2014J reveals a light echo at radii of about 0.6 arcsec from the supernova (SN; corresponding to about 12 pc at the distance of M82). Likely additional light echoes reside at a smaller radii of about 0.4 arcsec The major echo signal corresponds to echoing material about 330 pc in the foreground of SN 2014J and tends to be bright where pre-existing nebular structure in M82 is also bright. The second, likely echo corresponds to foreground distances of 80 pc in front of the SN. Even one year after maximum light, there are indications of further echo structures appearing at smaller radii, and future observations may show how extinction in these affect detected echo farther from the SN, which will affect interpretation of details of the three-dimensional structure of this gas and dust. Given enough data, we might even use these considerations to constrain the near-SN material’s shadowing on distant echoing clouds, even without directly observing the foreground structure. This is in addition to echoes in the near future that might also reveal circumstellar structure around SN 2014J’s progenitor star from direct imaging observations and other techniques.

We report the detection of the (J, K)=(1, 1), (2, 2), and (3, 3) inversion lines of ammonia (NH3) toward the southwestern molecular lobe in M82. The relative intensities of the ammonia lines are characterized by a rotational temperature of Trot=29+/-5 K, which implies an average kinetic temperature of Tkin~60 K. A Gaussian decomposition of the observed spectra indicates increasing kinetic temperatures toward the nucleus of M82, consistent with recent findings based on CO observations. The observations imply a very low NH3 abundance relative to H2, X(NH3)~5×10-10. We present evidence for a decreasing NH3 abundance toward the central active regions in M82 and interpret this abundance gradient in terms of photodissociation of NH3 in photodissociation regions. The low temperature derived here from NH3 also explains the apparent underabundance of complex molecules like CH3OH and HNCO, which has previously been reported.

We describe experiments with deconvolutions of simulations of deep HST Wide Field Camera images containing faint, compact galaxies to determine under what circumstances there is a quantitative advantage to image deconvolution, and explore whether it is (1) helpful for distinguishing between stars and compact galaxies, or between spiral and elliptical galaxies, and whether it (2) improves the accuracy with which characteristic radii and integrated magnitudes may be determined. The Maximum Entropy and Richardson-Lucy deconvolution algorithms give the same results. For medium and low S/N images, deconvolution does not significantly improve our ability to distinguish between faint stars and compact galaxies, nor between spiral and elliptical galaxies. Measurements from both raw and deconvolved images are biased and must be corrected; it is easier to quantify and remove the biases for cases that have not been deconvolved. We find no benefit from deconvolution for measuring luminosity profiles, but these results are limited to low S/N images of very compact (often undersampled) galaxies.

With this study, we present Magellan/M2FS, Very Large Telescope/GIRAFFE, and Gemini South/GMOS spectroscopy of the newly discovered Milky Way satellite Reticulum II. Based on the spectra of 25 Ret II member stars selected from Dark Energy Survey imaging, we measure a mean heliocentric velocity ofmore » $$62.8\\pm 0.5\\;\\mathrm{km}\\;{{\\rm{s}}}^{-1}$$ and a velocity dispersion of $$3.3\\pm 0.7\\;\\mathrm{km}\\;{{\\rm{s}}}^{-1}$$. The mass-to-light ratio of Ret II within its half-light radius is $$470\\pm 210\\ {M}_{\\odot }/{L}_{\\odot }$$, demonstrating that it is a strongly dark matter-dominated system. Despite its spatial proximity to the Magellanic Clouds, the radial velocity of Ret II differs from that of the LMC and SMC by 199 and 83 $$\\mathrm{km}\\ {{\\rm{s}}}^{-1}$$, respectively, suggesting that it is not gravitationally bound to the Magellanic system. The likely member stars of Ret II span 1.3 dex in metallicity, with a dispersion of 0.28 ± 0.09 dex, and we identify several extremely metal-poor stars with $${\\rm{[Fe/H]}}\\lt -3$$. In combination with its luminosity, size, and ellipticity, these results confirm that Ret II is an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy. With a mean metallicity of $${\\rm{[Fe/H]}}=-2.65\\pm 0.07$$, Ret II matches Segue 1 as the most metal-poor galaxy known. Although Ret II is the third-closest dwarf galaxy to the Milky Way, the line-of-sight integral of the dark matter density squared is $${\\mathrm{log}}_{10}(J)=18.8\\pm 0.6\\;\\;\\mathrm{GeV}{\\;}^{2}\\;{\\mathrm{cm}}^{-5}\\;$$ within 0fdg2, indicating that the predicted gamma-ray flux from dark matter annihilation in Ret II is lower than that of several other dwarf galaxies.« less

A recent reanaylsis of Einstein data, and new ROSAT observations, have revealed the presence of at least two components in the X-ray spectra of X-ray faint early-type galaxies: a relatively hard component (kT greater than 1.5 keV), and a very soft component (kT approximately 0.2-0.3 keV). In this paper we address the problem of the nature of the very soft component and whether it can be due to a hot interstellar medium (ISM), or is most likely originated by the collective emission of very soft stellar sources. To this purpose, hydrodynamical evolutionary sequences for the secular behavior of gas flows in ellipticals have been performed, varying the Type Ia supernovae rate of explosion, and the dark matter amount and distribution. The results are compared with the observational X-ray data: the average Einstein spectrum for six X-ray faint early-type galaxies (among which are NGC 4365 and NGC 4697), and the spectrum obtained by the ROSAT pointed observation of NGC 4365. The very soft component could be entirely explained with a hot ISM only in galaxies such as NGC 4697, i.e., when the depth of the potential well-on which the average ISM temperature strongly depends-is quite shallow; in NGC 4365 a diffuse hot ISM would have a temperature larger than that of the very soft component, because of the deeper potential well. So, in NGC 4365 the softest contribution to the X-ray emission comes certainly from stellar sources. As stellar soft X-ray emitters, we consider late-type stellar coronae, supersoft sources such as those discovered by ROSAT in the Magellanic Clouds and M31, and RS CVn systems. All these candidates can be substantial contributors to the very soft emission, though none of them, taken separately, plausibly accounts entirely for its properties. We finally present a model for the X-ray emission of NGC 4365, to reproduce in detail the results of the ROSAT pointed observation, including the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) spectrum and radial

We investigate the radial number density profile and the abundance distribution of faint satellites around central galaxies in the low-redshift universe using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Legacy Survey. We consider three samples of central galaxies with magnitudes of M {sub r} = -21, -22, and -23 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey group catalog of Yang et al. The satellite distribution around these central galaxies is obtained by cross-correlating these galaxies with the photometric catalog of the CFHT Legacy Survey. The projected radial number density of the satellites obeys a power-law form with the best-fit logarithmic slope of -1.05, independent of both the central galaxy luminosity and the satellite luminosity. The projected cross-correlation function between central and satellite galaxies exhibits a non-monotonic trend with satellite luminosity. It is most pronounced for central galaxies with M {sub r} = -21, where the decreasing trend of clustering amplitude with satellite luminosity is reversed when satellites are fainter than central galaxies by more than 2 mag. A comparison with the satellite luminosity functions in the Milky Way (MW) and M31 shows that the MW/M31 system has about twice as many satellites as around a typical central galaxy of similar luminosity. The implications for theoretical models are briefly discussed.

We have used the Wisconsin Hα Mapper (WHAM) to investigate the properties of faint, large-scale Hα -emitting filaments in the warm ionized medium of the Galaxy. The recent WHAM Northern Sky Survey has revealed several of these remarkable features, some of which may extend over 1 kpc above the Galactic plane. In an effort to understand the origin and physical conditions of these structures, we have obtained optical emission line spectra toward a collection of filaments in Hα , Hβ , [N 2], [S 2], He 1, and [O 3]. These filaments include a 60o-long vertical structure which rises above the CMa R1 OB association in the plane, a horizontal feature that stretches 20o perpendicular to this larger filament, and an isolated filament extending 5o near the Lockman window at high Galactic latitude. The temperature, density, extinction, kinematics, and ionization state of these filaments, as revealed by their spectra, is discussed. We also compare the physical conditions within these filaments to classical H 2 regions and speculate on their origin. This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation through grant AST 96-19424.

We present new evolutionary synthesis models of M82 based mainly on observations consisting of near-infrared integral field spectroscopy and mid-infrared spectroscopy. The models incorporate stellar evolution, spectral synthesis, and photoionization modeling and are optimized forλ=1-45 μm observations of starburst galaxies. The data allow us to model the starburst regions on scales as small as 25 pc. We investigate the initial mass function (IMF) of the stars and constrain quantitatively the spatial and temporal evolution of starburst activity in M82. We find a typical decay timescale for individual burst sites of a few million years. The data are consistent with the formation of very massive stars (>~50-100 Msolar) and require a flattening of the starburst IMF below a few solar masses, assuming a Salpeter slope dN/dm~m-2.35 at higher masses. Our results are well matched by a scenario in which the global starburst activity in M82 occurred in two successive episodes each lasting a few million years, peaking about 107 yr and 5×106yr ago. The first episode took place throughout the central regions of M82 and was particularly intense at the nucleus, while the second episode occurred predominantly in a circumnuclear ring and along the stellar bar. We interpret this sequence as resulting from the gravitational interaction between M82 and its neighbor M81, and subsequent bar-driven evolution. The short burst duration on all spatial scales indicates strong negative feedback effects of starburst activity, both locally and globally. Simple energetics considerations suggest that the collective mechanical energy released by massive stars was able to rapidly inhibit star formation after the onset of each episode. Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA member states (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) and with the participation of ISAS and NASA. The SWS is a joint project of SRON and

We have performed the first study of the variable star population of Ursa Major I (UMa I), an ultra-faint dwarf satellite recently discovered around the Milky Way (MW) by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Combining time series observations in the B and V bands from four different telescopes, we have identified seven RR Lyrae stars in UMa I, of which five are fundamental-mode (RRab) and two are first-overtone pulsators (RRc). Our V, B - V color-magnitude diagram of UMa I reaches V {approx} 23 mag (at a signal-to-noise ratio of {approx}6) and shows features typical of a single old stellar population. The mean pulsation period of the RRab stars (P{sub ab}) = 0.628, {sigma} = 0.071 days (or (P{sub ab}) = 0.599, {sigma} = 0.032 days, if V4, the longest period and brightest variable, is discarded) and the position on the period-amplitude diagram suggest an Oosterhoff-intermediate classification for the galaxy. The RR Lyrae stars trace the galaxy horizontal branch (HB) at an average apparent magnitude of (V(RR)) = 20.43 {+-} 0.02 mag (average on six stars and discarding V4), giving in turn a distance modulus for UMa I of (m - M){sub 0} = 19.94 {+-} 0.13 mag, distance d = 97.3{sup +6.0}{sub -5.7} kpc, in the scale where the distance modulus of the Large Magellanic Cloud is 18.5 {+-} 0.1 mag. Isodensity contours of UMa I red giants and HB stars (including the RR Lyrae stars identified in this study) show that the galaxy has an S-shaped structure, which is likely caused by the tidal interaction with the MW. Photometric metallicities were derived for six of the UMa I RR Lyrae stars from the parameters of the Fourier decomposition of the V-band light curves, leading to an average metal abundance of [Fe/H] = -2.29 dex ({sigma} = 0.06 dex, average on six stars) on the Carretta et al. metallicity scale.

The ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxy Reticulum 2 (Ret 2) was recently discovered in images obtained by the Dark Energy Survey. We have observed the four brightest red giants in Ret 2 at high spectral resolution using the Michigan/Magellan Fiber System. We present detailed abundances for as many as 20 elements per star, including 12 elements heavier than the Fe group. We confirm previous detection of high levels of r-process material in Ret 2 (mean [Eu/Fe] = +1.69 ± 0.05) found in three of these stars (mean [Fe/H] = -2.88 ± 0.10). The abundances closely match the r-process pattern found in the well-studied metal-poor halo star CS 22892-052. Such r-process-enhanced stars have not been found in any other UFD galaxy, though their existence has been predicted by at least one model. The fourth star in Ret 2 ([Fe/H] = -3.42 ± 0.20) contains only trace amounts of Sr ([Sr/Fe] = -1.73 ± 0.43) and no detectable heavier elements. One r-process enhanced star is also enhanced in C (natal [C/Fe] ≈ +1.1). This is only the third such star known, which suggests that the nucleosynthesis sites leading to C and r-process enhancements are decoupled. The r-process-deficient star is enhanced in Mg ([Mg/Fe] = +0.81 ± 0.14), and the other three stars show normal levels of α-enhancement (mean [Mg/Fe] = +0.34 ± 0.03). The abundances of other α and Fe-group elements closely resemble those in UFD galaxies and metal-poor halo stars, suggesting that the nucleosynthesis that led to the large r-process enhancements either produced no light elements or produced light-element abundance signatures indistinguishable from normal supernovae. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

We present a statistical detection of 1.5 GHz radio continuum emission from a sample of faint z ∼ 4 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). To constrain their extinction and intrinsic star formation rate (SFR), we combine the latest ultradeep Very Large Array 1.5 GHz radio image and the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) optical images in the GOODS-N. We select a large sample of 1771 z ∼ 4 LBGs from the ACS catalog using B {sub F435W}-dropout color criteria. Our LBG samples have I {sub F775W} ∼ 25-28 (AB), ∼0-3 mag fainter than M{sub UV}{sup ⋆} at z ∼ 4. In our stacked radio images, we find the LBGs to be point-like under our 2'' angular resolution. We measure their mean 1.5 GHz flux by stacking the measurements on the individual objects. We achieve a statistical detection of S {sub 1.5} {sub GHz} = 0.210 ± 0.075 μJy at ∼3σ for the first time on such a faint LBG population at z ∼ 4. The measurement takes into account the effects of source size and blending of multiple objects. The detection is visually confirmed by stacking the radio images of the LBGs, and the uncertainty is quantified with Monte Carlo simulations on the radio image. The stacked radio flux corresponds to an obscured SFR of 16.0 ± 5.7 M {sub ☉} yr{sup –1}, and implies a rest-frame UV extinction correction factor of 3.8. This extinction correction is in excellent agreement with that derived from the observed UV continuum spectral slope, using the local calibration of Meurer et al. This result supports the use of the local calibration on high-redshift LBGs to derive the extinction correction and SFR, and also disfavors a steep reddening curve such as that of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Emission lines of (O III) at 52 microns and 88 microns and of (N III) at 57 microns in the nucleus of the galaxyM82 have been observed from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory with the facility's cooled grating spectrometer. The (N III) line has not been previously detected in any extragalactic source. The fluxes in the lines indicate approx 4 x 10 to the 7th power M of ionized gas and a large population of massive stars (equivalent to 5 x 10 to the 5th power 08.5 stars), sufficient to power the infrared luminosity of the nucleus. We use the 52 to 88 micron line intensity ratio to find an average electron density of 210 + or 75 in the nucleus; this is 10 to 100 times lower than values typically observed in individual compact HII regions in our Galaxy. The relative line strengths of the (O III) and (N III) lines imply an N(++)/O(++) ratio of 0.45 + or - 0.1, significantly lower than is measured by the same method in individual HII regions at similar galactocentric distances (equal to or less than 400 pc) in our Galaxy. This lower N(++)/O(++) ratio may be due to a lower N/O ratio, higher stellar temperatures, or both, in M82. At spectral resolutions of approx. 90 km/s, all three line profiles are similarly asymmetric. They can be well fitted by two Gaussian distributions with widths of approx. 150 km/s and central velocities of approx. 110 and approx. 295 km/s, bracketing the systemic velocity of the nucleus of approx. 210 km/s. Within uncertainties, both the N(++)/O(++) ratio and the electron density are the same for both Gaussian components; this indicates no major large-scale gradient in either quantity within the nucleus.

We present observations of NGC 839 made with the Wide Field Spectrograph on the ANU 2.3 m telescope. Our data cover a region 25'' x 60'' at a spatial resolution of {approx}1.''5. The long axis of the field is aligned with the superwind we have discovered in this starburst galaxy. The data cover the range of 3700-7000 A, with a spectral resolution R {approx}7000 in the red and R {approx}3000 in the blue. We find that the stellar component of the galaxy is strongly dominated by a fast rotating intermediate-age ({approx}400 Myr) A-type stellar population, while the gas is concentrated in a bi-conical polar funnel. We have generated flux distributions, emission line ratio diagnostics, and velocity maps in both emission and absorption components. We interpret these in the context of a new grid of low-velocity shock models appropriate for galactic-scale outflows. These models fit the data remarkably well, providing for the first time model diagnostics for shocks in superwinds and strongly suggesting that shock excitation is largely responsible for the extended LINER emission in the outflowing gas in NGC 839. Our work may have important implications both for extended LINER emission seen in other galaxies and in the interpretation of objects with 'composite' spectra. Finally, we present a scenario for the formation of E+A galaxies based upon our observations of NGC 839 and its relation to M82.

We obtained Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of eight faint (intrinsic 850 μm fluxes < 2 mJy) submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) discovered in SCUBA images of the massive lensing cluster fields A370, A2390, and A1689 and detected five. In total, we obtain five SMA detections, all of which have de-lensed fluxes <1 mJy with estimated total infrared luminosities 10{sup 10}-10{sup 12} L {sub ☉}, comparable to luminous infrared galaxies and normal star-forming galaxies. Based on the latest number counts, these galaxies contribute ∼70% of the 850 μm extragalactic background light and represent the dominant star-forming galaxy population in the dusty universe. However, only 40{sub −16}{sup +30}% of our faint SMGs would be detected in deep optical or near-infrared surveys, which suggests many of these sources are at high redshifts (z ≳ 3) or extremely dusty, and they are not included in current star formation history estimates.

We present the discovery of a new dwarf galaxy, Hydra II, found serendipitously within the data from the ongoing Survey of the Magellanic Stellar History conducted with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4 m Telescope. The new satellite is compact ({{r}h}=68 ± 11 pc) and faint ({{M}V}=-4.8 ± 0.3), but well within the realm of dwarf galaxies. The stellar distribution of Hydra II in the color-magnitude diagram is well-described by a metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-2.2) and old (13 Gyr) isochrone and shows a distinct blue horizontal branch, some possible red clump stars, and faint stars that are suggestive of blue stragglers. At a heliocentric distance of 134 ± 10 kpc, Hydra II is located in a region of the Galactic halo that models have suggested may host material from the leading arm of the Magellanic Stream. A comparison with N-body simulations hints that the new dwarf galaxy could be or could have been a satellite of the Magellanic Clouds.

M82 is often considered the archetypical starburst galaxy because of its spectacular starbust-driven superwind. Its close proximity of 3.6 Mpc and nearly edge-on geometry make it a unique laboratory for studying the physics of rapid star formation and violent galactic winds. In addition, there is evidence that it has been tidally-truncated by its interaction with M81 and therefore has essentially no dark matter halo. The mass distribution of this galaxy is needed to estimate the power of its superwind, as well as determine if a dark matter halo is still present. Numerous studies have used stellar and gas dynamics to estimate the mass distribution, yet the substantial dust attenuation has been a significant challenge. We have measured the stellar kinematics in the near-infrared K-band with the LUCI-1 spectrograph at the Large Binocular Telescope. We used the '2CO stellar absorption bandhead at 2.29µm to measure the stellar rotation curve out to ˜4kpc, and our results confirm that the dark matter halo is still present. This is in stark contrast with the nearly Keplerian gas dynamics measured with HI and CO emission from the interstellar medium. We estimate M82's dynamical mass to be ˜1010 M⊙. We have also measured the equivalent width of the 12CO bandhead to provide new constraints on the spatial extent of the red supergiant population. The variation in the CO equivalent width with radius clearly shows that supergiants dominate the light within 0.5kpc radius. The superwind is likely launched from this region, where we estimate the enclosed mass is 2×109 M⊙.

Context. Studies measuring the star formation rate density, luminosity function, and properties of star-forming galaxies are numerous. However, it exists a gap at 0.5 < z < 0.8 in Hα-based studies. Aims: Our main goal is to study the properties of a sample of faint Hα emitters at z ~ 0.62. We focus on their contribution to the faint end of the luminosity function and derived star formation rate density, characterising their morphologies and basic photometric and spectroscopic properties. Methods: We use a narrow-band technique in the near-infrared, with a filter centred at 1.06 μm. The data come from ultra-deep VLT/HAWK-I observations in the GOODS-S field with a total of 31.9 h in the narrow-band filter. In addition to our survey, we mainly make use of ancillary data coming from the CANDELS and Rainbow Cosmological Surveys Database, from the 3D-HST for comparison, and also spectra from the literature. We perform a visual classification of the sample and study their morphologies from structural parameters available in CANDELS. In order to obtain the luminosity function, we apply a traditional V/Vmax method and perform individual extinction corrections for each object to accurately trace the shape of the function. Results: Our 28 Hα-selected sample of faint star-forming galaxies reveals a robust faint-end slope of the luminosity function α = - 1.46-0.08+0.16 . The derived star formation rate density at z ~ 0.62 is ρSFR = 0.036-0.008+0.012 M⊙ yr-1 Mpc-3 . The sample is mainly composed of disks, but an important contribution of compact galaxies with Sérsic indexes n ~ 2 display the highest specific star formation rates. Conclusions: The luminosity function at z ~ 0.62 from our ultra-deep data points towards a steeper α when an individual extinction correction for each object is applied. Compact galaxies are low-mass, low-luminosity, and starburst-dominated objects with a light profile in an intermediate stage from early to late types. Based on observations

Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs) are newcomers among galaxies, and are the faintest galaxies in the observed universe. To date, they have only been found around the Milky Way Galaxy and M31 in the Local Group. We present the discovery of a UFD in the intracluster field in the core of the Virgo cluster (Virgo UFD1), which is far from any massive galaxies. The color-magnitude diagram of the resolved stars in this galaxy shows a narrow red giant branch, similar to those of metal-poor globular clusters in the Milky Way. We estimate its distance by comparing the red giant branch with isochrones, and we obtain a value 16.4 ± 0.4 Mpc. This shows that it is indeed a member of the Virgo cluster. From the color of the red giants we estimate its mean metallicity to be very low, [Fe/H] =-2.4 ± 0.4. Its absolute V-band magnitude and effective radius are derived to be MV = -6.5 ± 0.2 and r eff = 81 ± 7 pc, much fainter and smaller than the classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Its central surface brightness is estimated to be as low as μ V, 0 = 26.37 ± 0.05 mag arcsec-2. Its properties are similar to those of the Local Group analogs. No evidence of tidal features are found in this galaxy. Considering its narrow red giant branch with no asymptotic giant branch stars, low metallicity, and location, it may be a fossil remnant of the first galaxies.

Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs) are newcomers among galaxies, and are the faintest galaxies in the observed universe. To date, they have only been found around the Milky Way Galaxy and M31 in the Local Group. We present the discovery of a UFD in the intracluster field in the core of the Virgo cluster (Virgo UFD1), which is far from any massive galaxies. The color-magnitude diagram of the resolved stars in this galaxy shows a narrow red giant branch, similar to those of metal-poor globular clusters in the Milky Way. We estimate its distance by comparing the red giant branch with isochrones, and we obtain a value 16.4 ± 0.4 Mpc. This shows that it is indeed a member of the Virgo cluster. From the color of the red giants we estimate its mean metallicity to be very low, [Fe/H] =–2.4 ± 0.4. Its absolute V-band magnitude and effective radius are derived to be M{sub V} = –6.5 ± 0.2 and r {sub eff} = 81 ± 7 pc, much fainter and smaller than the classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Its central surface brightness is estimated to be as low as μ {sub V,} {sub 0} = 26.37 ± 0.05 mag arcsec{sup –2}. Its properties are similar to those of the Local Group analogs. No evidence of tidal features are found in this galaxy. Considering its narrow red giant branch with no asymptotic giant branch stars, low metallicity, and location, it may be a fossil remnant of the first galaxies.

Galaxy counts in the K band, (J-K) colors, and apparent size distributions of faintgalaxies in the Subaru Deep Field (SDF) down to K~24.5 were studied in detail. Special attention has been paid to take into account various selection effects, including the cosmological dimming of surface brightness, to avoid any systematic bias that may be the origin of controversy in previously published results. We also tried to be very careful about systematic model uncertainties; we present a comprehensive survey of these systematic uncertainties and dependence on various parameters, and we have shown that the dominant factors to determine galaxy counts in this band are cosmology and number evolution. We found that the pure luminosity evolution (PLE) model is very consistent with all the SDF data down to K~22.5, without any evidence for number or size evolution in a low-density, Λ-dominated flat universe, which is now favored by various cosmological observations. On the other hand, a number evolution of galaxies with η~2, when invoked as the luminosity conserving mergers as φ*~(1+z)η and L*~(1+z)-η for all types of galaxies, is necessary to explain the data in the Einstein-de Sitter universe. If the popular Λ-dominated universe is taken for granted, our result then gives a strong constraint on the number evolution of giant elliptical or early-type galaxies to z~1-2 that must be met by any models in the hierarchically clustering universe, since such galaxies are the dominant population in this magnitude range (Kgalaxies and/or dwarf galaxies, which has been suggested by previous studies of optical galaxies, is allowed from the data. In the fainter magnitude range of K>~22.5, we found a slight excess of observed counts over the prediction of the PLE model when elliptical galaxies are treated as a single population. We

We present the results of a spectroscopic survey of the recently discovered faint Milky Way satellites Boötes, Ursa Major I, Ursa Major II and Willman 1 (Wil1). Using the DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph mounted on the Keck II telescope, we have obtained samples that contain from ~15 to ~85 probable members of these satellites for which we derive radial velocities precise to a few kms-1 down to i ~ 21-22. About half of these stars are observed with a high enough signal-to-noise ratio to estimate their metallicity to within +/-0.2 dex. The characteristics of all the observed stars are made available, along with those of the Canes Venatici I dwarf galaxy that have been analysed in a companion paper. From this data set, we show that Ursa Major II is the only object that does not show a clear radial velocity peak. However, the measured systemic radial velocity (vr = 115 +/- 5kms-1) is in good agreement with simulations in which this object is the progenitor of the recently discovered Orphan Stream. The three other satellites show velocity dispersions that make them highly dark matter dominated systems (under the usual assumptions of symmetry and virial equilibrium). In particular, we show that despite its small size and faintness, the Wil1 object is not a globular cluster given its metallicity scatter over -2.0 galaxy or dwarf galaxy remnant. We measure a radial velocity dispersion of only 4.3+2.3-1.3kms-1 around a systemic velocity of -12.3 +/- 2.3kms-1 which implies a mass-to-light ratio of ~700 and a total mass of ~5 × 105Msolar for this satellite, making it the least massive satellite galaxy known to date. Such a low mass could mean that the 107Msolar limit that had until now never been crossed for Milky Way and Andromeda satellite galaxies may only be an observational limit and that fainter, less massive systems exist within the Local Group. However, more modelling and an extended search for

We explore what the Full-Sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer (FAME) can achieve by observing a ``small'' (< 106) sample of faint objects (R< ~18) in addition to its standard R<15 magnitude limited catalog of 40x 106 stars. Observing some 50,000 quasars will improve the accuracy of the reference frame from 16 micro-as/yr to 6 micro-as/yr, allowing proper motion of the Galactic center due to reflex of the Sun's motion to be determined with an accuracy of 0.1%. It will also permit very accurate proper motions of the Magellanic Clouds. Quasar observations also offer a powerful check on any unmodeled parallax systematics. Proper motions of 30,000 faint field blue horizontal branch stars will allow stellar halo rotation to be mapped to beyond 35 kpc. Halo substructures producing clumps in the velocity space will be detectable to 10 kpc. In addition to this, allowing inclusion of objects with R>15 will increase the number of good parallaxes of late M-dwarfs 30-fold, and provide distances of over 200 L-dwarfs. FAME could obtain good (10%) parallaxes for 3700 white dwarfs, a 10-fold increase over the R<15 sample. These parallaxes will yield precise mass and luminosity functions. Candidate quasars, BHB stars, and nearby stars will be selected from existing and planned surveys (SDSS, USNO, 2MASS, etc.) The total number of faint candidates should be about 500,000, a small fraction of the FAME input catalog.

As Ly{alpha} photons are scattered by neutral hydrogen, a change with redshift in the Ly{alpha} equivalent width (EW) distribution of distant galaxies offers a promising probe of the degree of ionization in the intergalactic medium and hence when cosmic reionization ended. This simple test is complicated by the fact that Ly{alpha} emission can also be affected by variations in the kinematics and dust content of the host galaxies. In the first paper in this series, we demonstrated both a luminosity- and redshift-dependent trend in the fraction of Ly{alpha} emitters seen within color-selected 'Lyman break' galaxies (LBGs) over the range 3 < z < 6; lower luminosity galaxies and those at higher redshift show an increased likelihood of strong emission. Here, we present the results from 12.5 hr exposures with the Keck DEIMOS spectrograph focused primarily on LBGs at z {approx_equal} 6 which enable us to confirm the redshift dependence of line emission more robustly and to higher redshift than was hitherto possible. We find that 54% {+-} 11% of faint z {approx_equal} 6 LBGs show strong (W{sub Ly{alpha},0}>25 A) emission, an increase of 55% from a sample of similarly luminous z {approx_equal} 4 galaxies. With a total sample of 74 z {approx_equal} 6 LBGs, we determine the luminosity-dependent Ly{alpha} EW distribution. Assuming continuity in these trends to the new population of z {approx_equal} 7 sources located with the Hubble WFC3/IR camera, we predict that unless the neutral fraction rises in the intervening 200 Myr, the success rate for spectroscopic confirmation using Ly{alpha} emission should be high.

The Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS) is a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Large Program, which will obtain 140 orbits of grism spectroscopy of the core and infall regions of 10 galaxy clusters, selected to be among the very best cosmic telescopes. Extensive HST imaging is available from many sources including the CLASH and Frontier Fields programs. We introduce the survey by analyzing spectra of faint multiply-imaged galaxies and z ≳ 6 galaxy candidates obtained from the first 7 orbits out of 14 targeting the core of the Frontier Fields cluster MACSJ0717.5+3745. Using the G102 and G141 grisms to cover the wavelength range 0.8-1.7 μm, we confirm four strongly lensed systems by detecting emission lines in each of the images. For the 9 z ≳ 6 galaxy candidates clear from contamination, we do not detect any emission lines down to a 7 orbit 1σ noise level of ∼5 × 10{sup –18} erg s{sup –1} cm{sup –2}. Taking lensing magnification into account, our flux sensitivity reaches ∼0.2-5 × 10{sup –18} erg s{sup –1}cm{sup –2}. These limits over an uninterrupted wavelength range rule out the possibility that the high-z galaxy candidates are instead strong line emitters at lower redshift. These results show that by means of careful modeling of the background—and with the assistance of lensing magnification—interesting flux limits can be reached for large numbers of objects, avoiding pre-selection and the wavelength restrictions inherent to ground-based multi-slit spectroscopy. These observations confirm the power of slitless HST spectroscopy even in fields as crowded as a cluster core.

We predict Lyman α (Lyα) luminosity functions (LFs) of Lyα-selected galaxies (Lyα emitters, or LAEs) at z = 3-6 using the phenomenological model. This model combines observed UV-LFs of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs, or drop-out galaxies), with constraints on their distribution of Lyα line strengths as a function of UV-luminosity and redshift. Our analysis shows that while Lyα LFs of LAEs are generally not Schechter functions, these provide a good description over the luminosity range of log10(Lα/erg s-1) = 41-44. Motivated by this result, we predict Schechter function parameters at z = 3-6. Our analysis further shows that (i) the faint-end slope of the Lyα LF is steeper than that of the UV-LF of LBGs, (with a median αLyα < -2.0 at z ≳ 4), and (ii) a turnover in the Lyα LF of LAEs at Lyα luminosities 1040 ≲ Lα ≲ 1041 erg s-1 may signal a flattening of UV-LF of LBGs at -12 > MUV > -14. We discuss the implications of these results - which can be tested directly with upcoming surveys - for the Epoch of Reionization.

Since reionization prevents star formation in most haloes less massive than 3 × 109 M⊙, dwarf galaxies only populate a fraction of existing dark matter haloes. We use hydrodynamic cosmological simulations of the Local Group to study the discriminating factors for galaxy formation in the early Universe and connect them to the present-day properties of galaxies and haloes. A combination of selection effects related to reionization, and the subsequent evolution of haloes in different environments, introduces strong biases between the population of haloes that host dwarf galaxies, and the total halo population. Haloes that host galaxies formed earlier and are more concentrated. In addition, haloes more affected by tidal stripping are more likely to host a galaxy for a given mass or maximum circular velocity, vmax, today. Consequently, satellite haloes are populated more frequently than field haloes, and satellite haloes of 108-109 M⊙ or vmax of 12-20 km s-1, compatible with stellar kinematics of Local Group dwarf spheroidals, have experienced a greater than average reduction in both mass and vmax after infall. They are on closer, more radial orbits with higher infall velocities and earlier infall times. Together, these effects make dwarf galaxies highly biased tracers of the underlying dark matter distribution.

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are powerful cosmological “standardizable candles” and the most precise distance indicators. However, the ultimate limiting factor in their use for precision cosmology rests on our ability to correct for the dust extinction toward them. SN 2014J in the starburst galaxyM82, the closest detected SN Ia in three decades, provides unparalleled opportunities to study the dust extinction. In order to derive the extinction as a function of wavelength, we model the color excesses toward SN 2014J observationally derived over a wide wavelength range in terms of dust models consisting of a mixture of silicate and graphite. The resulting extinction laws steeply rise toward the far ultraviolet, even steeper than that of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We infer a visual extinction of AV≈1.9 mag, a reddening of E(B-V)≈1.1 mag, and a total-to-selective extinction ratio of RV≈1.7, consistent with that previously derived from photometric, spectroscopic and polarimetric observations. The size distributions of the dust in the interstellar medium toward SN 2014J are skewed toward substantially smaller grains than that of the Milky Way and the SMC.

We compute the effects of interstellar dust on the photometric properties of disk galaxies in several photographic and photoelectric bands. The solution to the radiative transfer problem including absorption and multiple scattering 0+ light by dust grains is taken from a previous paper by the authors (Magris and Bruzual, this conference). We present magnitudes and colors V. redshift for galaxies seen at different inclination angles and with different values of the optical depth through the plane of the galaxy. The results are compared with those obtained from a straightforward application of the galactic extinction law. It is concluded that in order to properly take into account the effects of dust in the photometric properties of distant galaxies of cosmological interest it is necessary to use correction factors such as those of Magris and Bruzual.

Obtaining a complete census of cosmic star formation requires an understanding of faint star-forming galaxies that are far below the detection limits of current surveys. To search for the faintgalaxies, we use the power of strong gravitational lensing from foreground galaxy clusters to boost the detection limits of HST to much fainter luminosities. Using the WFC3/UVIS on board the HST, we obtain deep UV images of 4 lensing clusters with existing deep optical and near-infrared data (three from Frontier Fields survey). Building multiband photometric catalogs and applying a photometric redshift selection, we uncover a large population of dwarf galaxies (-18.5galaxies keeps increasing steeply toward very faint magnitudes (MUV=-12.5). As an important implication of a steep faint-end slope LF, we show that the faintgalaxies (-18.550%) at these redshifts. We use this unique sample to investigate further the various properties of dwarf galaxies as it is claimed to deviate from the trends seen for the more massive galaxies. Recent hydro-dynamical simulations and observations of local dwarfs show that these galaxies have episodic bursts of star formation on short time scales (< 10 Myr). We find that the bursty star formation histories (SFHs) cause a large intrinsic scatter in UV colors (β) at MUV > -16, comparing a sample of low mass galaxies from simulations with bursty SFHs with our comprehensive measurements of the observed β values. As this scatter can also be due to the dust extinction, we distinguish these two effects by measuring the dust attenuation using Balmer decrement (Hα/Hβ) ratios from our MOSFIRE/Keck spectroscopy.

We present statistics of 133 faint 1.2 mm continuum sources detected in about 120 deep Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) pointing data that include all the archival deep data available by 2015 June. We derive number counts of 1.2 mm continuum sources down to 0.02 mJy partly with the assistance of gravitational lensing, and find that the total integrated 1.2 mm flux of the securely identified sources is {22.9}-5.6+6.7 Jy deg-2 which corresponds to {104}-25+31% of the extragalactic background light (EBL) measured by Cosmic Background Explorer observations. These results suggest that the major 1.2 mm EBL contributors are sources with 0.02 mJy, and that very faint 1.2 mm sources with ≲0.02 mJy contribute negligibly to the EBL with the possible flattening and/or truncation of number counts in this very faint flux regime. To understand the physical origin of our faint ALMA sources, we measure the galaxy bias bg by the counts-in-cells technique, and place a stringent upper limit of bg < 3.5 that is not similar to bg values of massive distant red galaxies and submillimeter galaxies but comparable to those of UV-bright, star-forming BzK galaxies (sBzKs) and Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). Moreover, in the optical and near-infrared (NIR) deep fields, we identify optical-NIR counterparts for 59% of our faint ALMA sources, the majority of which have luminosities, colors, and the IRX-β relation the same as sBzKs and LBGs. We thus conclude that about a half of our faint ALMA sources are dust-poor, high-z galaxies as known as sBzKs and LBGs in optical studies, and that these faint ALMA sources are not miniature (U)LIRGs simply scaled down with the infrared brightness.

The nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253 has been observed at a third epoch at 6 cm, and a second epoch at 3.6 cm, using the highest resolution configuration of the Very Large Array (VLA). Over a total time span of 4 yr between 1987 and 1991, no new compact radio sources have appeared. The flux density limit ranges from 3 mJy (3 times the power of Cas A) for most of the main body of the source to approximately 0.3 mJy off the diffuse source surrounding the nucleus. Furthermore, there is no evidence for significant source fading over 4 yr, in contrast to the result reported by Kronberg & Sramek (1985) for M82. More recent data suggest that, except for the strongest source in that galaxy, the compact radio sources in M82 may not be fading after all. If this suggestion proves correct, supernova rates of 0.2-0.3/yr in M82, estimated based on the assumed source fading, are incorrect. More accurate limits on source fading indicate that the current rate of production of radio supernovae in M82 is no greater than 0.1/yr, while that in NGC 253 is no greater than 0.25/yr.

The Hubble Frontier Fields have magnified our view into the formation and evolution of galaxies in the first billion years after the Big Bang. One key issue these data can probe is how galaxies grow their stellar masses. Do they grow smoothly with time, dominated by steady gas inflow? Or is their growth more stochastic, dominated by starburst triggering events such as mergers or clumpy gas inflows? A bevy of observational studies have shown that the star formation rates (SFRs) of distant galaxies increase with time, while theoretical studies, which broadly agree on long timescales, show that the SFRs may vary significantly on shorter timescales. We have compiled a sample of galaxies over a wide dynamic range in SFR by combining the HFF imaging with the CANDELS and HUDF datasets. By comparing the scatter in SFRs to SPH and semi-analytic models with known star formation histories, we directly measure the fraction of galaxies at a given epoch undergoing starbursts. This has a variety of implications on the distant universe, including reionization, as a significant burst fraction could both increase the number of ionizing photons being produced, as well as disturb the interstellar medium enough to allow these photons to escape.

The escape of ionizing Lyman continuum (LyC) photons requires the existence of low-N H i sightlines, which also promote escape of Lyα. We use a suite of 2500 Lyα Monte-Carlo radiative transfer simulations through models of dusty, clumpy interstellar (“multiphase”) media from Gronke & Dijkstra, and compare the escape fractions of Lyα ({f}{{esc}}{{Ly}α }) and LyC radiation ({f}{{esc}}{{ion}}). We find that {f}{{esc}}{{ion}} and {f}{{esc}}{{Ly}α } are correlated: galaxies with a low {f}{{esc}}{{Ly}α } consistently have a low {f}{{esc}}{{ion}}, while galaxies with a high {f}{{esc}}{{Ly}α } exhibit a large dispersion in {f}{{esc}}{{ion}}. We argue that there is increasing observational evidence that Lyα escapes more easily from UV-faintgalaxies. The correlation between {f}{{esc}}{{ion}} and {f}{{esc}}{{Ly}α } then implies that UV-faintgalaxies contribute more to the ionizing background than implied by the faint-end slope of the UV luminosity function. In multiphase gases, the ionizing escape fraction is most strongly affected by the cloud covering factor, f cl, which implies that {f}{{esc}}{{ion}} is closely connected to the observed Lyα spectral line shape. Specifically, LyC-emitting galaxies typically having narrower, more symmetric line profiles. This prediction is qualitatively similar to that for “shell models.”

The new IRAS Faint Source Survey data base is used to confirm the conclusion of Hacking et al. (1987) that the 60 micron source counts fainter than about 0.5 Jy lie in excess of predictions based on nonevolving model populations. The existence of an anisotropy between the northern and southern Galactic caps discovered by Rowan-Robinson et al. (1986) and Needham and Rowan-Robinson (1988) is confirmed, and it is found to extend below their sensitivity limit to about 0.3 Jy in 60 micron flux density. The count anisotropy at f(60) greater than 0.3 can be interpreted reasonably as due to the Local Supercluster; however, no one structure accounting for the fainter anisotropy can be easily identified in either optical or far-IR two-dimensional sky distributions. The far-IR galaxy sky distributions are considerably smoother than distributions from the published optical galaxy catalogs. It is likely that structure of the large size discussed here have been discriminated against in earlier studies due to insufficient volume sampling.

The new IRAS Faint Source Survey data base is used to confirm the conclusion of Hacking et al. (1987) that the 60 micron source counts fainter than about 0.5 Jy lie in excess of predictions based on nonevolving model populations. The existence of an anisotropy between the northern and southern Galactic caps discovered by Rowan-Robinson et al. (1986) and Needham and Rowan-Robinson (1988) is confirmed, and it is found to extend below their sensitivity limit to about 0.3 Jy in 60 micron flux density. The count anisotropy at f(60) greater than 0.3 can be interpreted reasonably as due to the Local Supercluster; however, no one structure accounting for the fainter anisotropy can be easily identified in either optical or far-IR two-dimensional sky distributions. The far-IR galaxy sky distributions are considerably smoother than distributions from the published optical galaxy catalogs. It is likely that structure of the large size discussed here have been discriminated against in earlier studies due to insufficient volume sampling.

We exploit a sample of ultra-faint high-redshift galaxies (demagnified Hubble Space Telescope, HST, H 160 magnitude > 30) in the Frontier Fields clusters A2744 and M0416 to constrain a theoretical model for the UV luminosity function in the presence of photoionization feedback. The objects have been selected on the basis of accurate photometric redshifts computed from multi-band photometry including seven HST bands and deep K s and IRAC observations. Magnification is computed on an object-by-object basis from all available lensing models of the two clusters. We take into account source detection completeness as a function of luminosity and size, magnification effects, and systematics in the lens modeling of the clusters under investigation. We find that our sample of high-z galaxies constrain the cutoff halo circular velocity below which star formation is suppressed by photoionization feedback to {v}c{{cut}}\\lt 50 km s‑1. This circular velocity corresponds to a halo mass of ≈5.6 × 109 M ⊙ and ≈2.3 × 109 M ⊙ at z = 5 and 10, respectively: higher-mass halos can thus sustain continuous star formation activity without being quenched by external ionizing flux. More stringent constraints are prevented by the uncertainty in the modeling of the cluster lens, as embodied by systematic differences among the lens models available.

The new IRAS Faint Source Survey data base is used to confirm the conclusion of Hacking et al. (1987) that the 60 micron source counts fainter than about 0.5 Jy lie in excess of predictions based on nonevolving model populations. The existence of an anisotropy between the northern and southern Galactic caps discovered by Rowan-Robinson et al. (1986) and Needham and Rowan-Robinson (1988) is confirmed, and it is found to extend below their sensitivity limit to about 0.3 Jy in 60 micron flux density. The count anisotropy at f(60) greater than 0.3 can be interpreted reasonably as due to the Local Supercluster; however, no one structure accounting for the fainter anisotropy can be easily identified in either optical or far-IR two-dimensional sky distributions. The far-IR galaxy sky distributions are considerably smoother than distributions from the published optical galaxy catalogs. It is likely that structure of the large size discussed here have been discriminated against in earlier studies due to insufficient volume sampling. 105 refs.

The standard cosmological model based on cold dark matter (CDM) predicts a large number of subhalos for each galaxy-size halo. Matching the subhalos to the observed properties of luminous satellites of galaxies in the local universe poses a significant challenge to our understanding of the astrophysics of galaxy formation. We show that the cosmic evolution and host mass dependence of the luminosity function of satellites provide a powerful new diagnostic to disentangle astrophysical effects from variations in the underlying dark matter mass function. We illustrate this by comparing recent observations of satellites between redshifts 0.1 < z < 0.8 based on Hubble Space Telescope images, with predictions from three different state-of-the-art semi-analytic models applied to CDM power spectra, with one model also applied to a warm dark matter (WDM) spectrum. We find that even though CDM models provide a reasonable fit to the local luminosity function of satellites around galaxies comparable to the Milky Way, they do not reproduce the data as well for different redshifts and host galaxy stellar masses, indicating that further improvements in the description of star formation are likely needed. The WDM model matches the observed mass dependence and redshift evolution of satellite galaxies more closely, indicating that a modification of the underlying power spectrum may offer an alternative solution to this tension. We conclude by presenting predictions for the color distribution of satellite galaxies to demonstrate how future observations will be able to further distinguish between these models and to help constrain baryonic and non-baryonic physics.

Using the NASA Extragalactic Database, we have searched the close environment of 98 star-forming dwarf galaxies (SFDGs) from field- and low density environments for companion galaxies. Most of the found companions are dwarf galaxies, previously disregarded in environmental studies of SFDGs. Using a subsample at low redshifts, cz < 2000 km/s, i.e. less biased against dwarf companions, we find that 30% of the SFDGs have close companions within a projected linear separation s_p < 100 kpc and a redshift difference of (Delta cz) < 500 km/s. This fraction must be considered a lower limit, given the incompleteness of the available data sets and the non-negligible frequency of HI clouds in the vicinity of SFDGs, so that the majority of SFDGs should not be considered isolated. The redshift differences between companion candidates and sample SFDGs are typically smaller than ~250 km/s and concentrated towards lower values. This is similarly observed for dwarf satellites of spiral galaxies and suggests a physical association between the companion candidates and the sample SFDGs. SFDGs with a close companion do not show significant differences in their H(beta) equivalent widths and B-V colours as compared to isolated ones. However, the available data do not allow to rule out close dwarf companions as an influencing factor for star formation activity.

With the discovery of the ultraluminous X-ray pulsar in M82 by Bachetti et al (2014), there has been renewed interest in the galaxy, which also hosts one of the best candidates for an intermediate-mass black hole. We present results on the spectral and temporal properties of the pulsar from 15 years of Chandra observations with implications for theoretical modeling of the source, as well as the high-energy constraints on both sources from NuSTAR.

Short wavelength IUE spectra of Arp 248b and UGC 8315N are combined with optical spectra and interpreted using a combination of spectrum synthesis and spectral diagnostics to place constraints on the massive star populations of the central regions of these galaxies and to deduce information about the star formation histories in the last 10(exp 8) years. The authors find that both galaxies have substantial fractions of their optical light coming from massive stars and that Arp 248b may be dominated in the UV by WR stars. The UV spectra are dominated by radiation from evolved massive stars and the authors place and age on the burst in Arp 248b of a few tens of millions of years.

We present the faintest spectroscopically confirmed sample of z {approx} 5 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) to date. The sample is based on slitless grism spectra of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field region from the Grism ACS Program for Extragalactic Science (GRAPES) and Probing Evolution and Reionization Spectroscopically (PEARS) projects, using the G800L grism on the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys. We report here confirmations of 39 galaxies, preselected as candidate LBGs using photometric selection criteria. We compare a 'traditional' V-dropout selection, based on the work of Giavalisco et al., to a more liberal one (with V - i > 0.9), and find that the traditional criteria are about 64% complete and 81% reliable. We also study the Ly{alpha} emission properties of our sample. We find that Ly{alpha} emission is detected in {approx}1/4 of the sample, and that the liberal V-dropout color selection includes {approx}55% of previously published line-selected Ly{alpha} sources. Finally, we examine our stacked two-dimensional spectra. We demonstrate that strong, spatially extended ({approx}1'') Ly{alpha} emission is not a generic property of these LBGs, but that a modest extension of the Ly{alpha} photosphere (compared to the starlight) may be present in those galaxies with prominent Ly{alpha} emission.

Aims: We study the chemical complexity towards the central parts of the starburst galaxyM82, and investigate the role of certain molecules as tracers of the physical processes in the galaxy circumnuclear region. Methods: We carried out a spectral line survey with the IRAM-30 m telescope towards the northeastern molecular lobe of M82. It covers the frequency range between 129.8 GHz and 175.0 GHz in the 2 mm atmospheric window, and between 241.0 GHz and 260.0 GHz in the 1.3 mm atmospheric window. Results: Sixty-nine spectral features corresponding to 18 different molecular species are identified. In addition, three hydrogen recombination lines are detected. The species NO, H2S, H2CS, NH2CN, and CH3CN are detected for the first time in this galaxy. Assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium, we determine the column densities of all the detected molecules. We also calculate upper limits to the column densities of fourteen other important, but undetected, molecules, such as SiO, HNCO, or OCS. We compare the chemical composition of the two starburst galaxiesM82 and NGC 253. This comparison enables us to establish the chemical differences between the products of the strong photon-dominated regions driving the heating in M82, and the large-scale shocks that influence the properties of the molecular clouds in the nucleus of NGC 253. Conclusions: Overall, both sources have different chemical compositions. Some key molecules highlight the different physical processes dominating both central regions. Examples include CH3CCH, c-C3H2, or CO+, the abundances of which are clearly higher in M82 than in NGC 253, pointing at photodissociating regions. On the other hand, species such as CH2NH, NS, SiO, and HOCO+ have abundances of up to one order of magnitude higher in NGC 253 than in M82. Appendix is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Compact radio sources about a light year in size have been detected in the nuclei of the galaxies NGC 1052, NGC 3034 (M82), NGC 4278, and NGC 4594 (M104) at a wavelength of 18 cm. The compact nucleus detected in M81 at 6 cm was not seen at 18 cm. The compact source in M82 is unique among extragalactic sources in its size-spectrum relationship. It is either broadened by scattering within M82 or it lies behind, and is absorbed by, an H II region. In these galaxies, the size of the nuclear radio source at 18 cm is larger than it is at higher frequencies. The nucleus of the giant radio galaxy DA 240 was not detected.

We present high-resolution (R {approx} 40,000), high-signal-to-noise ratio (20-90) spectra of an extremely metal-poor giant star Boo-1137 in the 'ultra-faint' dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) Booetes I, absolute magnitude M{sub V} {approx} -6.3. We derive an iron abundance of [Fe/H] = -3.7, making this the most metal-poor star as yet identified in an ultra-faint dSph. Our derived effective temperature and gravity are consistent with its identification as a red giant in Booetes I. Abundances for a further 15 elements have also been determined. Comparison of the relative abundances, [X/Fe], with those of the extremely metal-poor red giants of the Galactic halo shows that Boo-1137 is 'normal' with respect to C and N, the odd-Z elements Na and Al, the iron-peak elements, and the neutron-capture elements Sr and Ba, in comparison with the bulk of the Milky Way halo population having [Fe/H] {approx}galaxy-scale stellar initial mass function, but that Boo-1137 likely originated in a star-forming region where the abundances reflect either poor mixing of supernova (SN) ejecta, or poor sampling of the SN progenitor mass range, or both.

Laevens et al. recently discovered Triangulum II (Tri II), a satellite of the Milky Way. Its Galactocentric distance is 36 kpc, and its luminosity is only 450 {L}⊙ . Using Keck/DEIMOS, we measured the radial velocities of six member stars within 1.‧2 of the center of Tri II, and we found a velocity dispersion of {σ }v={5.1}-1.4+4.0 {km} {{{s}}}-1. We also measured the metallicities of three stars and found a range of 0.8 dex in [Fe/H]. The velocity and metallicity dispersions identify Tri II as a dark matter-dominated galaxy. The galaxy is moving very quickly toward the Galactic center ({v}{{GSR}}=-262 {km} {{{s}}}-1). Although it might be in the process of being tidally disrupted as it approaches pericenter, there is no strong evidence for disruption in our data set. The ellipticity is low, and the mean velocity, < {v}{{helio}}> =-382.1+/- 2.9 {km} {{{s}}}-1, rules out an association with the Triangulum-Andromeda substructure or the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey stellar stream. If Tri II is in dynamical equilibrium, then it would have a mass-to-light ratio of {3600}-2100+3500 {M}⊙ {L}⊙ -1, the highest of any non-disrupting galaxy (those for which dynamical mass estimates are reliable). The density within the 3D half-light radius would be {4.8}-3.5+8.1 {M}⊙ {{{pc}}}-3, even higher than Segue 1. Hence, Tri II is an excellent candidate for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. The data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

We present constraints on the stellar initial mass function (IMF) in two ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, Hercules and Leo IV, based on deep Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging. The Hercules and Leo IV galaxies are extremely low luminosity (M{sub V} = -6.2, -5.5), metal-poor (([Fe/H]) = -2.4, -2.5) systems that have old stellar populations (>11 Gyr). Because they have long relaxation times, we can directly measure the low-mass stellar IMF by counting stars below the main-sequence turnoff without correcting for dynamical evolution. Over the stellar mass range probed by our data, 0.52-0.77 M{sub Sun }, the IMF is best fit by a power-law slope of {alpha}= 1.2{sub -0.5}{sup +0.4} for Hercules and {alpha} = 1.3 {+-} 0.8 for Leo IV. For Hercules, the IMF slope is more shallow than a Salpeter ({alpha} = 2.35) IMF at the 5.8{sigma} level, and a Kroupa ({alpha} = 2.3 above 0.5 M{sub Sun }) IMF slope at 5.4{sigma} level. We simultaneously fit for the binary fraction, f{sub binary}, finding f{sub binary}= 0.47{sup +0.16}{sub -0.14} for Hercules, and 0.47{sup +0.37}{sub -0.17} for Leo IV. The UFD binary fractions are consistent with that inferred for Milky Way stars in the same mass range, despite very different metallicities. In contrast, the IMF slopes in the UFDs are shallower than other galactic environments. In the mass range 0.5-0.8 M{sub Sun }, we see a trend across the handful of galaxies with directly measured IMFs such that the power-law slopes become shallower (more bottom-light) with decreasing galactic velocity dispersion and metallicity. This trend is qualitatively consistent with results in elliptical galaxies inferred via indirect methods and is direct evidence for IMF variations with galactic environment.

Detection of the 205 micrometer fine structure line of N II in the nearby starburst galaxyM82 is reported. The intensity wihin a 54 sec Full width at Half Maximum (FWHM) beam is (7.1 +/- 1.2) x 10(exp -19) W cm(exp -2). The ratio of the intensity of the recently detected 122 micrometer line to that of the 2.5 micrometer lines is = (4.2) (sup =1.6) (sub -1.2), significantly larger than the corresponding Galactic value of 1.6 +/- 0.3, reflecting higher electron densities within the central 850 pc of M82 in comparison to the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Galactic average. The 2.5 micrometer line profile is consistent with other far-infrared fine-structure line profiles observed in M82. The observations are interpreted in the context of a two-component model of the ionized medium in M82. We find that a component of density as low as approximately 50 cm(exp -3) can comprise up to 70% of the total mass of warm ionized gas within the beam. The balance of the ionized mass is comprised of a component of density approximately greater than 100 cm(exp -3). A model is explored in which the dneser ionized medium constitute the boundaries of neutral surfaces which border the expanding hot plasma from the nuclear region.

In the last decade, using single epoch virial based techniques in the optical band, it has been possible to measure the central black hole mass on large type 1 Active Galactive Nuclei (AGN) samples. However these measurements use the width of the broad line region as a proxy of the virial velocities and are therefore difficult to be carried out on those obscured (type 2) or low luminosity AGN where the nuclear component does not dominate in the optical. Here we present the optical and near infrared spectrum of the starburst/Seyfert galaxy NGC 6221, observed with X-shooter/VLT. Previous observations of NGC 6221 in the X-ray band shows an absorbed (N_H=8.5 +/- 0.4 x 10^21 cm^-2) spectrum typical of a type 2 AGN with luminosity log(L_14-195/ erg s^-1) = 42.05, while in the optical band its spectrum is typical of a reddened (A_V=3) starburst. Our deep X-shooter/VLT observations have allowed us to detect faint broad emission in the H_alpha, HeI and Pa_beta lines (FWHM=1400-2300 km s^-1) confirming previous studies indicating that NGC 6221 is a reddened starbust galaxy which hosts an AGN. We use the measure of the broad components to provide a first estimate of its central black hole mass (M_BH = 10^6.6+/-0.3 Msol, lambda_Edd=0.01-0.03), obtained using recently calibrated virial relations suitable for moderately obscured (N_H<10^24 cm^-2) AGN.

Radiation pressure on dust grains may be an important physical mechanism driving galaxy-wide superwinds in rapidly star-forming galaxies. We calculate the combined dust and gas Eddington ratio (Γ) for the archetypal superwind of M82. By combining archival Galaxy Evolution Explorer data, a standard dust model, Monte Carlo dust scattering calculations, and the Herschel map of the dust surface density distribution, the observed far-UV/near-UV surface brightness in the outflow constrains both the total UV luminosity escaping from the starburst along its minor axis (L {sub *,UV}) and the flux-mean opacity, thus allowing a calculation of Γ. We find that L {sub *,UV} ≈ (1-6) × 10{sup 42} erg s{sup –1}, ∼2-12 times greater than the UV luminosity observed from our line of sight. On a scale of 1-3 kpc above the plane of M82, we find that Γ ∼ 0.01-0.06. On smaller scales (∼0.25-0.5 kpc), where the enclosed mass decreases, our calculation of L {sub *,UV} implies that Γ ∼ 0.1 with factor of few uncertainties. Within the starburst itself, we estimate the single-scattering Eddington ratio to be of order unity. Thus, although radiation pressure is weak compared to gravity on kpc scales above the plane of M82, it may yet be important in launching the observed outflow. We discuss the primary uncertainties in our calculation, the sensitivity of Γ to the dust grain size distribution, and the time evolution of the wind following M82's recent starburst episodes.

We present comprehensive analyses of faint dropout galaxies up to z ∼ 10 with the first full-depth data set of the A2744 lensing cluster and parallel fields observed by the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) program. We identify 54 dropouts at z ∼ 5-10 in the HFF fields and enlarge the size of the z ∼ 9 galaxy sample obtained to date. Although the number of highly magnified (μ ∼ 10) galaxies is small because of the tiny survey volume of strong lensing, our study reaches the galaxies' intrinsic luminosities comparable to the deepest-field HUDF studies. We derive UV luminosity functions with these faint dropouts, carefully evaluating by intensive simulations the combination of observational incompleteness and lensing effects in the image plane, including magnification, distortion, and multiplication of images, with the evaluation of mass model dependencies. Our results confirm that the faint-end slope, α, is as steep as –2 at z ∼ 6-8 and strengthen the evidence for the rapid decrease of UV luminosity densities, ρ{sub UV}, at z > 8 from the large z ∼ 9 sample. We examine whether the rapid ρ{sub UV} decrease trend can be reconciled with the large Thomson scattering optical depth, τ{sub e}, measured by cosmic microwave background experiments, allowing a large space of free parameters, such as an average ionizing photon escape fraction and a stellar-population-dependent conversion factor. No parameter set can reproduce both the rapid ρ{sub UV} decrease and the large τ {sub e}. It is possible that the ρ{sub UV} decrease moderates at z ≳ 11, that the free parameters significantly evolve toward high z, or that there exist additional sources of reionization such as X-ray binaries and faint active galactic nuclei.

We propose to observe three nearby dwarf spheroidal (dSph) companions of the Milky Way. These galaxies host old populations with little or no contamination of recent star formation, and appear to have a huge dark matter content. They are the ideal Rosetta stones to probe theories of X-ray binary formation, type Ia progenitors evolution, and dark matter halos.Recent observations of four other dSph with Chandra and XMM-Newton have revealed a large number of X-ray sources in the fields, effected by small column density of neutral hydrogen N(H).Using deep optical and UV images, archival HST and GALEX exposures, and later spectroscopic follow-up, we will be able to determine the nature of the sources and whether they belong to the galactic populations.

We report the results of a search for large velocity width, low-intensity line wings—a commonly used signature of molecular outflows—in four low redshift (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies that appear to be dominated by star formation. The targets were drawn from a sample of fourteen targets presented in Chung et al., who showed the stacked CO spectrum of the sample to exhibit 1000 km s-1-wide line wings. We obtained sensitive, wide bandwidth imaging of our targets using the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. We detect each target at very high significance but do not find the claimed line wings in these four targets. Instead, we constrain the flux in the line wings to be only a few percent. Casting our results as mass outflow rates following Cicone et al. we show them to be consistent with a picture in which very high mass loading factors preferentially occur in systems with high active galactic nucleus contributions to their bolometric luminosity. We identify one of our targets, IRAS 05083 (VII Zw 31), as a candidate molecular outflow.

We report on multi-frequency Very Large Array (VLA) and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) radio observations for a monitoring campaign of supernova SN 2008iz in the nearby irregular galaxyM82. We fit two models to the data, a simple time power-law, S ∝ tβ, and a simplified Weiler model, yielding decline indices of β = -1.22 ± 0.07 (days 100-1500) and -1.41 ± 0.02 (days 76-2167), respectively. The late-time radio light-curve evolution shows flux-density flares at ~970 and ~1400 days that are a factor of ~2 and ~4 higher than the expected flux, respectively. The later flare, except for being brighter, does not show signs of decline at least from results examined so far (2014 January 23; day 2167). We derive the spectral index, α, S ∝ να for frequencies 1.4 to 43 GHz for SN 2008iz during the period from ~430 to 2167 days after the supernova explosion. The value of α shows no signs of evolution and remains steep ≈-1 throughout the period, unlike that of SN 1993J, which started flattening at ~day 970. From the 4.8 and 8.4 GHz VLBI images, the supernova expansion is seen to start with a shell-like structure that becomes increasingly more asymmetric, then breaks up in the later epochs, with bright structures dominating the southern part of the ring. This structural evolution differs significantly from SN 1993J, which remains circularly symmetric over 4000 days after the explosion. The VLBI 4.8 and 8.4 GHz images are used to derive a deceleration index, m, for SN 2008iz, of 0.86 ± 0.02, and the average expansion velocity between days 73 and 1400 as (12.1 ± 0.2) × 103 km s-1. From the energy equipartition between magnetic field and particles, we estimate the minimum total energy in relativistic particles and the magnetic fields during the supernova expansion and also find the magnetic field amplification factor for SN 2008iz to be in the range of 55-400. The VLBI images (FITS files) are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http

An 8 day MERLIN deep integration at 5GHz of the central region of the starburst galaxyM82 has been used to investigate the radio structure of a number of supernova remnants in unprecedented detail revealing new shells and partial shell structures for the first time. In addition, by comparing the new deep 2002 image with an astrometrically aligned image from 36 hours of data taken in 1992, it has been possible to directly measure the expansion velocities of 4 of the most compact remnants in M82. For the two most compact remnants, 41.95+575 and 43.31+592, expansion velocities of 2800 ± 300 km s-1 and 8750 ± 400 km s-1 have been derived. These confirm and refine the measured expansion velocities which have been derived from VLBI multi-epoch studies. For remnants 43.18+583 and 44.01+596, expansion velocities of 10500 ± 750 km s -1 and 2400 ± 250 km s-1 have been measured for the first time. In addition, the peak of the radio emission for SNR 45.17+612 has moved between the two epochs implying velocities around 7500km s-1. The relatively compact remnants in M82 are thus found to be expanding over a wide range of velocities which appear unrelated to their size. The new 2002 map is the most sensitive high-resolution image yet made of M82, achieving an rms noise level of 17µJy beam-1. This establishes a first epoch for subsequent deep studies of expansion velocities for many SNR within M82.

We characterize the luminosity functions of galaxies residing in z ˜ 0 groups and clusters over the broadest ranges of luminosity and mass reachable by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our measurements cover four orders of magnitude in luminosity, down to about Mr = -12 mag or L = 107 L⊙, and three orders of magnitude in halo mass, from 1012 to 1015 M⊙. We find a characteristic scale, Mr ˜ -18 mag or L ˜ 109 L⊙, below which the slope of the luminosity function becomes systematically steeper. This trend is present for all halo masses and originates mostly from red satellites. This ubiquitous faint-end upturn suggests that it is formation, rather than halo-specific environmental effect, that plays a major role in regulating the stellar masses of faint satellites. We show that the satellite luminosity functions can be described in a simple manner by a double Schechter function with amplitudes scaling with halo mass over the entire range of observables. Combining these conditional luminosity functions with the dark matter halo mass function, we accurately recover the entire field luminosity function over 10 visual magnitudes and reveal that satellite galaxies dominate the field luminosity function at magnitudes fainter than -17. We find that the luminosity functions of blue and red satellite galaxies show distinct shapes and we present estimates of the stellar mass fraction as a function of halo mass and galaxy type. Finally, using a simple model, we demonstrate that the abundances and the faint-end slopes of blue and red satellite galaxies can be interpreted in terms of their formation history, with two distinct modes separated by some characteristic time.

Context. Discovered in the last decade as overdensities of resolved stars, the ultra-faint dwarfs (UFDs) are among the least luminous, most dark-matter dominated, and most metal-poor galaxies known today. They appear as sparse, loose objects with high mass-to-light ratios. Hercules is the prototype of the UFD galaxies. To date, there are still no firm constraints on its total luminosity due to the difficulty of disentangling Hercules bona-fide stars from the severe Galactic field contamination. Aims: To better constrain Hercules properties, we aim at removing foreground and background contaminants in the galaxy field using the proper motions of the Milky Way stars and the colour-colour diagram. Methods: We have obtained images of Hercules in the rSloan , BBessel and Uspec bands with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and LBC-BIN mode capabilities. The rSloan new dataset combined with data from the LBT archive span a time baseline of about 5 yr, allowing us to measure proper motions of stars in the Hercules direction for the first time. The Uspec data along with existing LBT photometry allowed us to use colour-colour diagram to further remove the field contamination. Results: Thanks to a highly-accurate procedure to derive the rSloan -filter geometric distortion solution for the LBC-red, we were able to measure stellar relative proper motions to a precision of better than 5 mas yr-1 down to rSloan≃ 22 mag and disentangle a significant fraction (>90%) of Milky Way contaminants. We ended up with a sample of 528 sources distributed over a large portion of the galaxy body (~0.12 deg2). Of these sources, 171 turned out to be background galaxies and additional foreground stars from the analysis of the Uspec - BBessel vs. BBessel - rSloan colour-colour diagram. This leaves us with a sample of 357 likely members of the Hercules UFD. We compared the cleaned colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) with evolutionary models and synthetic CMDs, confirming the presence in Hercules of

From the period starting February 25th 2010 and ending July 9th 2011, 249 hostless transients or "orphans" were discovered in the PS1 Medium Deep fields. AN orphan is defined as an object that is >3.4" away from the centre of a catalogued galaxy or point source brighter than approximately 23.5m (in any of the gP1 rP1 iP1 filters that the transient was detected in). The PS1 observations are obtained through a set of five broadband filters, which we have designated as gP1, rP1, iP1, zP1, and yP1. Although the filter system for PS1 has much in common with that used in previous surveys, such as SDSS (Abazajian et al., 2009ApJS..182..543A), there are important differences. The gP1 filter extends 20nm redward of gSDSS, paying the price of 5577Å emission for greater sensitivity and lower systematics for photometric redshifts, and the zP1 filter is cut off at 930nm, giving it a different response than the detector response which defined zSDSS. SDSS has no corresponding yP1 filter. Further information on the passband shapes is described in Stubbs et al. (2010ApJS..191..376S). The PS1 photometric system and its response is covered in detailed in Tonry et al. (2012ApJ...750...99T, Cat. J/ApJ/750/99). Photometry is in the "natural" PS1 system, m=-2.5log(flux)+m', with a single zeropoint adjustment m' made in each band to conform to the AB magnitude scale. (8 data files).

We present a comprehensive analysis of interstellar absorption lines seen in moderately high resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra of SN 2014J in M82. Our observations were acquired over the course of six nights, covering the period from ∼6 days before to ∼30 days after the supernova reached its maximum B-band brightness. We examine complex absorption from Na I, Ca II, K I, Ca I, CH{sup +}, CH, and CN, arising primarily from diffuse gas in the interstellar medium (ISM) of M82. We detect Li I absorption over a range in velocity consistent with that exhibited by the strongest Na I and K I components associated with M82; this is the first detection of interstellar Li in a galaxy outside of the Local Group. There are no significant temporal variations in the absorption-line profiles over the 37 days sampled by our observations. The relative abundances of the various interstellar species detected reveal that the ISM of M82 probed by SN 2014J consists of a mixture of diffuse atomic and molecular clouds characterized by a wide range of physical/environmental conditions. Decreasing N(Na I)/N(Ca II) ratios and increasing N(Ca I)/N(K I) ratios with increasing velocity are indicative of reduced depletion in the higher-velocity material. Significant component-to-component scatter in the N(Na I)/N(Ca II) and N(Ca I)/N(Ca II) ratios may be due to variations in the local ionization conditions. An apparent anti-correlation between the N(CH{sup +})/N(CH) and N(Ca I)/N(Ca II) ratios can be understood in terms of an opposite dependence on gas density and radiation field strength, while the overall high CH{sup +} abundance may be indicative of enhanced turbulence in the ISM of M82. The Li abundance also seems to be enhanced in M82, which supports the conclusions of recent gamma-ray emission studies that the cosmic-ray acceleration processes are greatly enhanced in this starburst galaxy.

We report the discovery of the faintest known dwarf galaxy satellite of a Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) stellar-mass host beyond the Local Group (LG), based on deep imaging with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam. Magellanic Analog Dwarf Companions And Stellar Halos (MADCASH) J074238+652501-dw lies ∼35 kpc in projection from NGC 2403, a dwarf spiral galaxy at D ≈ 3.2 Mpc. This new dwarf has {M}g=-7.4+/- 0.4 and a half-light radius of 168 ± 70 pc, at the calculated distance of 3.39 ± 0.41 Mpc. The color–magnitude diagram reveals no evidence of young stellar populations, suggesting that MADCASH J074238+652501-dw is an old, metal-poor dwarf similar to low-luminosity dwarfs in the LG. The lack of either detected HI gas ({M}{HI}/{L}V\\lt 0.69 {M}ȯ /{L}ȯ , based on Green Bank Telescope observations) or GALEX NUV/FUV flux enhancement is consistent with a lack of young stars. This is the first result from the MADCASH survey, which is conducting a census of the stellar substructure and faint satellites in the halos of Local Volume LMC analogs via resolved stellar populations. Models predict a total of ∼4–10 satellites at least as massive as MADCASH J074238+652501-dw around a host with the mass of NGC 2403, with 2–3 within our field of view, slightly more than the one such satellite observed in our footprint. Based in part on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

We report the discovery of the faintest known dwarf galaxy satellite of a Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) stellar-mass host beyond the Local Group (LG), based on deep imaging with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam. Magellanic Analog Dwarf Companions And Stellar Halos (MADCASH) J074238+652501-dw lies ˜35 kpc in projection from NGC 2403, a dwarf spiral galaxy at D ≈ 3.2 Mpc. This new dwarf has {M}g=-7.4+/- 0.4 and a half-light radius of 168 ± 70 pc, at the calculated distance of 3.39 ± 0.41 Mpc. The color–magnitude diagram reveals no evidence of young stellar populations, suggesting that MADCASH J074238+652501-dw is an old, metal-poor dwarf similar to low-luminosity dwarfs in the LG. The lack of either detected HI gas ({M}{HI}/{L}V\\lt 0.69 {M}ȯ /{L}ȯ , based on Green Bank Telescope observations) or GALEX NUV/FUV flux enhancement is consistent with a lack of young stars. This is the first result from the MADCASH survey, which is conducting a census of the stellar substructure and faint satellites in the halos of Local Volume LMC analogs via resolved stellar populations. Models predict a total of ˜4–10 satellites at least as massive as MADCASH J074238+652501-dw around a host with the mass of NGC 2403, with 2–3 within our field of view, slightly more than the one such satellite observed in our footprint. Based in part on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

We present deep HST/ACS photometry of an arclike, overdense region of stars in the southern halo of M82, located approximately 5 kpc from its disk. This arc feature was originally identified about a decade ago. The early ground-based studies suggested that it contains young stars with ages and metallicities similar to those that formed in the tidal tails between M81, M82, and NGC3077 during their interactions. The arc is clearly presented in the spatial distribution of stars in our field with significantly higher stellar density than the background M82 halo stars. The location of the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) reveals the arc to have a similar distance to M81 and M82, therefore confirming that it belongs to this interacting system. Combining our data with those from the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury (ANGST), we construct a color-magnitude diagram (CMD) for the arc. A sequence of young stars is clearly presented on its CMD. This young main sequence is not seen in other parts of the M82 halo. Single-metallicity isochrones are used to derive the age of the young stars in the arc. We confirm that these stars exhibit ages consistent with young stars found in the HI bridges between M81, M82 and NGC3077. Furthermore, the mean metallicity of the RGB stars is also derived from their metallicity distribution function and found to be similar to that found in the HI bridges.

We take deep images of four ultra faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, Canes Venatici I (CVn I), Booetes I (Booe I), Canes Venatici II (CVn II), and Leo IV, using the Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope. Color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) extend below main-sequence turnoffs (MSTOs) and yield measurements of the ages of stellar populations. The stellar populations of three faintgalaxies, the Booe I, CVn II, and Leo IV dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs), are estimated to be as old as the Galactic globular cluster M92. We confirm that Booe I dSph has no intrinsic color spread in the MSTO and no spatial difference in the CMD morphology, which indicates that Booe I dSph is composed of an old single stellar population. One of the brightest UFDs, CVn I dSph, shows a relatively younger age ({approx}12.6 Gyr) with respect to Booe I, CVn II, and Leo IV dSphs, and the distribution of red horizontal branch (HB) stars is more concentrated toward the center than that of blue HB stars, suggesting that the galaxy contains complex stellar populations. Booe I and CVn I dSphs show the elongated and distorted shapes. CVn II dSph has the smallest tidal radius of a Milky Way satellite and has a distorted shape, while Leo IV dSph shows a less concentrated spherical shape. The simple stellar population of faint UFDs indicates that the gases in their progenitors were removed more effectively than those of brighter dSphs at the occurrence of their initial star formation. This is reasonable if the progenitors of UFDs belong to less massive halos than those of brighter dSphs.

We present a K-band spectroscopic study of the stellar and gas kinematics, mass distribution, and stellar populations of the archetypical starburst galaxyM82. Our results are based on a single spectrum at a position angle of 67.{sup 0}5 through the K-band nucleus. We used the {sup 12}CO stellar absorption band head at 2.29 {mu}m (CO{sub 2.29}) to measure the rotation curve out to nearly 4 kpc radius on both the eastern and western sides of the galaxy. Our data show that the rotation curve is flat from 1 to 4 kpc. This stands in sharp contrast to some previous studies, which have interpreted H I and CO emission-line position-velocity diagrams as evidence for a declining rotation curve. The kinematics of the Br{gamma}, H{sub 2}, and He I emission lines are consistent with, although characterized by slightly higher velocities than, the stellar kinematics. We derived M82's mass distribution from our stellar kinematic measurements and estimate that its total dynamical mass is {approx}10{sup 10} M{sub Sun }. We measured the equivalent width of CO{sub 2.29} (W{sub 2.29}) as a function of distance from the center of the galaxy to investigate the spatial extent of the red supergiant (RSG) population. The variation in W{sub 2.29} with radius clearly shows that RSGs dominate the light inside 500 pc radius. M82's superwind is likely launched from this region, where we estimate that the enclosed mass is {approx}<2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }.

Studies of QSO absorber-galaxy connections are often hindered by inadequate information on whether faint/dwarf galaxies are located near the QSO sight lines. To investigate the contribution of faintgalaxies to QSO absorber populations, we are conducting a deep galaxy redshift survey near low-z C IV absorbers. Here we report a blindly detected C IV absorption system (z abs = 0.00348) in the spectrum of PG1148+549 that appears to be associated either with an edge-on dwarf galaxy with an obvious disk (UGC 6894, z gal = 0.00283) at an impact parameter of ρ = 190 kpc or with a very faint dwarf irregular galaxy at ρ = 23 kpc, which is closer to the sightline but has a larger redshift difference (z gal = 0.00107, i.e., δv = 724 km s-1). We consider various gas/galaxy associations, including infall and outflows. Based on current theoretical models, we conclude that the absorber is most likely tracing (1) the remnants of an outflow from a previous epoch, a so-called "ancient outflow", or (2) intergalactic gas accreting onto UGC 6894, "cold mode" accretion. The latter scenario is supported by H I synthesis imaging data that shows the rotation curve of the disk being codirectional with the velocity offset between UGC 6894 and the absorber, which is located almost directly along the major axis of the edge-on disk. Based on observations obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope operated at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Also, based on data acquired using the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The LBT is an international collaboration among institutions in the US, Italy, and Germany. LBT Corporation partners are the University of Arizona, on behalf of the Arizona University System; Instituto Nazionale do Astrofisica, Italy; LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft, Germany, representing the Max Planck Society, the Astrophysical Institute of Potsdam, and

Near-Infrared spectroscopy combined with high spatial resolution imaging have been used in this work to probe the central 500 pc of M82. Imaging observations in the 2.36 μm CO band head are added to our previously published near-infrared hydrogen recombination line imaging, near-infrared broadband imaging, and 3.29 μm dust feature imaging observations, in order to study the nature of the starburst stellar population. A starburst model is constructed and compared with the observations of the stellar clusters in the starburst complex. Our analysis implies that the typical age for the starburst clusters is 107 yr. In addition, our high spatial resolution observations indicate that there is an age dispersion within the starburst complex that is correlated with projected distance from the center of the galaxy. The inferred age dispersion is 6 × 106 yr. If the starburst in M82 is propagating outward from the center, this age dispersion corresponds to a velocity of propagation, originating in the center, of ~50 km s-1. Our quantitative analysis also reveals that a Salpeter initial mass function, extending from 0.1 to 100 M⊙, can fit the observed properties of M82 without using up more than 30% of the total dynamical mass in the starburst.

The supernova SN2014J in the starburst galaxyM82 was observed using the 4.2m WHT in La Palma. Low, intermediate and high resolution spectroscopy with ISIS and ACAM and broadband (u, g, r, i, z) and Halpha imaging were obtained everynight from 23rd to 26th January. Low and intermediate resolution spectra were obtained covering the whole optical range (3500 A to 9400 A approx.), plus High resolution spectra (0.23 A/pix dispersion) centered at 3950 A in the blue and at 5890 A in the red.

In this study we present three-dimensional radiative cooling hydrodynamical simulations of galactic winds generated particularly in M82-like starburst galaxies. We have considered intermittent winds induced by supernova (SN) explosions within super star clusters randomly distributed (in space and time) in the central region of the galaxy (within a radius of R = 150 pc) and were able to reproduce the observed M82 wind conditions with its complex morphological outflow structure. We have found that the environmental conditions in the disc in the nearly recent past are crucial to determine whether the wind will develop a large-scale rich filamentary structure, as in M82 wind, or not. If a sufficiently large number of super stellar clusters are built up in a starburst mainly over a period of a few million years, then the simulations reproduce the multiphase gas observed in M82-like winds, i.e. with filaments of sizes about 20-300 pc, velocities of ˜200-500 km s-1, densities in the range 10-1-10 cm-3, embedded in a hot, low-density gas with a density smaller than 10-2 cm-3 and a velocity of ˜2000 km s-1. Otherwise, a `superbubble-like' wind develops, with very poor or no cold filamentary structures. Also, the numerical evolution of the SN ejecta has allowed us to obtain the abundance distribution over the first ˜3 kpc extension of the wind and we have found that the SN explosions change significantly the metallicity only of the hot, low-density wind component for which we obtained abundances ˜5-10 Z⊙ in fair consistency with the observations. Moreover, we have found that the SN-driven wind transports to outside the disc large amounts of energy, momentum and gas, but the more massive high-density component reaches only intermediate altitudes smaller than 1.5 kpc. Therefore, no significant amounts of gas mass are lost to the intergalactic medium and the mass evolution of the galaxy is not much affected by the starburst events occurring in the nuclear region.

We propose to study the star-forming host galaxies of AGN at z 6 with WFC3/IR in F125W and F160W. Recently, far-infrared {FIR} continuum has been detected in five UV-faint {rest-frame m_1450>20.2} quasars at z 6, suggesting that they have star formation rates {SFRs} of 1000 MSun/yr, comparable to UV-bright z 6 quasars. Such SFRs imply a significant young, UV-bright stellar population. These host galaxies have yet to be seen in starlight, however, since light from the AGN still dominates the rest-frame UV emission.We successfully subtracted the point source in the UV-bright {m_1450=19.03} quasar J1148+5251 down to mu_J>24.4, mu_H>24.9 mag arcsec^-2, giving upper limits of m_1680>22.5, m_2160>23.0 mag for the host galaxy {Program 12332, PI Windhorst}. Uncertainties in the PSF model remain the dominant source of residuals. Since these uncertainties scale with brightness, low-contrast quasars with UV-faint point sources and UV-bright hosts are the best targets for this method.Using the observing and subtraction methods we developed, we propose to observe all 5 FIR-detected, UV-faint z 6 quasars with WFC3/IR in F125W and F160W. We request 5 orbits per quasar, for a total of 25 orbits. This program is beyond the capability of ground-based AO facilities, due to depth and PSF stability required. Observations of these host galaxies are critical to determine:{a} The existence of a luminous stellar component{b} Luminosity and color profiles, to constrain star formation histories{c} Morphologies and sizes, to look for mergers and hierarchical formation processes{d} Stellar mass, to understand formation and co-evolution of SMBHs and galaxy bulges

We present the observations of the starburst galaxyM82 taken with the Herschel SPIRE Fourier-transform spectrometer. The spectrum (194-671 μm) shows a prominent CO rotational ladder from J = 4-3 to 13-12 emitted by the central region of M82. The fundamental properties of the gas are well constrained by the high J lines observed for the first time. Radiative transfer modeling of these high-S/N 12CO and 13CO lines strongly indicates a very warm molecular gas component at ~500 K and pressure of ~3×106 K cm-3, in good agreement with the H2 rotational lines measurements from Spitzer and ISO. We suggest that this warm gas is heated by dissipation of turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) rather than X-rays or UV flux from the straburst. This paper illustrates the promise of the SPIRE FTS for the study of the ISM of nearby galaxies. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.

We study the stellar population properties of the IRAC-detected 6 ≲ z ≲ 10 galaxy candidates from the Spitzer UltRa Faint SUrvey Program. Using the Lyman Break selection technique, we find a total of 17 galaxy candidates at 6 ≲ z ≲ 10 from Hubble Space Telescope images (including the full-depth images from the Hubble Frontier Fields program for MACS 1149 and MACS 0717) that have detections at signal-to-noise ratios ≥ 3 in at least one of the IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 μm channels. According to the best mass models available for the surveyed galaxy clusters, these IRAC-detected galaxy candidates are magnified by factors of ˜1.2-5.5. Due to the magnification of the foreground galaxy clusters, the rest-frame UV absolute magnitudes M1600 are between -21.2 and -18.9 mag, while their intrinsic stellar masses are between 2 × 108M⊙ and 2.9 × 109M⊙. We identify two Lyα emitters in our sample from the Keck DEIMOS spectra, one at zLyα = 6.76 (in RXJ 1347) and one at zLyα = 6.32 (in MACS 0454). We find that 4 out of 17 z ≳ 6 galaxy candidates are favored by z ≲ 1 solutions when IRAC fluxes are included in photometric redshift fitting. We also show that IRAC [3.6]-[4.5] color, when combined with photometric redshift, can be used to identify galaxies which likely have strong nebular emission lines or obscured active galactic nucleus contributions within certain redshift windows.

We report the detection of a complex of extraplanar warm H{sub 2} knots and filaments extending more than {approx}3 kpc above and below the galactic plane of M82, roughly coincident with the well-known galactic wind in this system. Comparisons of these data with published results at other wavelengths provide quantitative constraints on the topology, excitation, heating, and stability against disruption of the wind-entrained molecular interstellar matter in this prototypical galactic wind. Deep H{sub 2} 2.12 {mu}m observations such as these represent a promising new method to study the elusive but potentially important molecular component of galactic winds.

M82 is considered the archetypal starburst galaxy and at a distance of ~3.6 Mpc is one of the closest examples of its kind. It therefore provides a unique opportunity to study a star-forming environment in detail and particularly the discrete products of star-formation such as supernova remnants (SNR) and HII regions. Supernovae and supernova remnants play an important role in the feedback of energy and material into the surrounding interstellar medium as evidenced in M82 by the galactic superwind driven by the numerous supernovae, SNR and massive stellar winds.Radio observations can be used to see into the core of the star-forming region in the centre of M82 as they are unaffected by the gas and dust associated with such an intense starburst environment. Since their discovery in the 1970s, radio observations have been used to study and monitor the evolution of the ~100 supernova remnants at the heart of this galaxy.We present multi-epoch millarcsecond resolution images of the most compact supernova remnants in M82, spanning 25 years of evolution. In particular, we will discuss one of the quintessential SNR 43.31+59.2 as well as the unusual object 41.95+57.5 and its potential as a GRB afterglow.

Using kinematic maps from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey, we reveal that the majority of low-mass quenched galaxies exhibit coherent rotation in their stellar kinematics. Our sample includes all 39 quenched low-mass galaxies observed in the first year of MaNGA. The galaxies are selected with Mr > -19.1, stellar masses 109 M⊙ < M⋆ < 5 × 109 M⊙, EWHα < 2 Å, and all have red colours (u - r) > 1.9. They lie on the size-magnitude and σ-luminosity relations for previously studied dwarf galaxies. Just six (15 ± 5.7 per cent) are found to have rotation speeds ve, rot < 15 km s-1 at ˜1 Re, and may be dominated by pressure support at all radii. Two galaxies in our sample have kinematically distinct cores in their stellar component, likely the result of accretion. Six contain ionised gas despite not hosting ongoing star formation, and this gas is typically kinematically misaligned from their stellar component. This is the first large-scale Integral Field Unit (IFU) study of low mass galaxies selected without bias against low-density environments. Nevertheless, we find the majority of these galaxies are within ˜1.5 Mpc of a bright neighbour (MK < -23; or M⋆ > 5 × 1010 M⊙), supporting the hypothesis that galaxy-galaxy or galaxy-group interactions quench star formation in low-mass galaxies. The local bright galaxy density for our sample is ρproj = 8.2 ± 2.0 Mpc-2, compared to ρproj = 2.1 ± 0.4 Mpc-2 for a star forming comparison sample, confirming that the quenched low mass galaxies are preferentially found in higher density environments.

Carbon radio recombination lines (RRLs) at low frequencies (≲ 500 MHz) trace the cold, diffuse phase of the interstellar medium, which is otherwise difficult to observe. We present the detection of carbon RRLs in absorption in M82 with the Low Frequency Array in the frequency range of 48-64 MHz. This is the first extragalactic detection of RRLs from a species other than hydrogen, and below 1 GHz. Since the carbon RRLs are not detected individually, we cross-correlated the observed spectrum with a template spectrum of carbon RRLs to determine a radial velocity of 219 km s{sup –1}. Using this radial velocity, we stack 22 carbon-α transitions from quantum levels n = 468-508 to achieve an 8.5σ detection. The absorption line profile exhibits a narrow feature with peak optical depth of 3 × 10{sup –3} and FWHM of 31 km s{sup –1}. Closer inspection suggests that the narrow feature is superimposed on a broad, shallow component. The total line profile appears to be correlated with the 21 cm H I line profile reconstructed from H I absorption in the direction of supernova remnants in the nucleus. The narrow width and centroid velocity of the feature suggests that it is associated with the nuclear starburst region. It is therefore likely that the carbon RRLs are associated with cold atomic gas in the direction of the nucleus of M82.

In recent years the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has unraveled a new population of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs) whose origin remains a puzzle in the vicinity of the Milky Way (MW). Using a suite of collisionless N-body simulations, we investigate the formation of UFDs in the context of the tidal stirring model for the formation of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group (LG). Our simulations are designed to reproduce the tidal interactions between MW-sized host galaxies and rotationally supported dwarfs embedded in 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun} dark matter (DM) halos. We explore a variety of inner density slopes {rho}{proportional_to}r{sup -{alpha}} for the dwarf DM halos, ranging from core-like ({alpha} = 0.2) to cuspy ({alpha} = 1), and different dwarf orbital configurations. Our experiments demonstrate that UFDs can be produced via tidal stirring of disky dwarfs on relatively tight orbits, consistent with a redshift of accretion by the host galaxy of z {approx} 1, and with intermediate values for the halo inner density slopes ({rho}{proportional_to}r{sup -0.6}). The inferred slopes are in excellent agreement with those resulting from both the modeling of the rotation curves of dwarf galaxies and recent cosmological simulations of dwarf galaxy formation. Comparing the properties of observed UFDs with those of their simulated counterparts, we find remarkable similarities in terms of basic observational parameters. We conclude that tidal stirring of rotationally supported dwarfs represents a viable mechanism for the formation of UFDs in the LG environment.

We have discovered 11 ultra-faint (r ≲ 22.1) low surface brightness (LSB, central surface brightness 23 ≲ μr ≲ 26) dwarf galaxy candidates in one deep Virgo field of just 576 arcmin2 obtained by the Large Binocular Camera at the Large Binocular Telescope. Their association with the Virgo cluster is supported by their distinct position in the central surface brightness—total magnitude plane with respect to the background galaxies of similar total magnitude. They have typical absolute magnitudes and scale sizes, if at the distance of Virgo, in the range -13 ≲ Mr ≲ -9 and 250 ≲ rs ≲ 850 pc, respectively. Their colors are consistent with a gradually declining star formation history with a specific star formation rate of the order of 10-11 yr-1, i.e., 10 times lower than that of main sequence star-forming galaxies. They are older than the cluster formation age and appear to be regular in morphology. They represent the faintest extremes of the population of low luminosity LSB dwarfs that has recently been detected in wider surveys of the Virgo cluster. Thanks to the depth of our observations, we are able to extend the Virgo luminosity function down to Mr ˜ -9.3 (corresponding to total masses M ˜ 107 M⊙), finding an average faint-end slope α ≃ -1.4. This relatively steep slope puts interesting constraints on the nature of the dark matter and, in particular, on warm dark matter (WDM) often invoked to solve the overprediction of the dwarf number density by the standard cold dark matter scenario. We derive a lower limit on the WDM particle mass >1.5 keV.

We present the UDF05 project, a HST Large Program of deep ACS (F606W, F775W, F850LP, and NICMOS (Fll0W, Fl60W) imaging of three fields, two of which coincide with the NICP1-4 NICMOS parallel observations of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). In this first paper we use the ACS data for the NICP12 field, as well as the original HUDF ACS data, to measure the UV Luminosity Function (LF) of z approximately 5 Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) down to very faint levels. Specifically, based on a V - i, i - z selection criterion, we identify a sample of 101 and 133 candidate z approximately 5 galaxies down to z(sub 850) = 28.5 and 29.25 magnitudes in the NICP12 field and in the HUDF, respectively. Using an extensive set of Monte Carlo simulations we derive corrections for observational biases and selection effects, and construct the rest-frame 1400 Angstroms LBG LF over the range M(sub 1400) = [-22.2, -17.1], i.e. down to approximately 0.04 L(sub *) at z = 5. We show that: (i) Different assumptions for the SED distribution of the LBG population, dust properties and intergalactic absorption result in a 25% variation in the number density of LBGs at z = 5 (ii) Under consistent assumptions for dust properties and intergalactic absorption, the HUDF is about 30% under-dense in z = 5 LBGs relative to the NICP12 field, a variation which is well explained by cosmic variance; (iii) The faint-end slope of the LF is independent of the specific assumptions for the input physical parameters, and has a value of alpha approximately -1.6, similar to the faint-end slope of the LF that has been measured for LBGs at z = 3 and z = 6. Our study therefore supports no variation in the faint-end of the LBG LF over the whole redshift range z = 3 to z = 6. The comparison with theoretical predictions suggests that (a,) the majority of the stars in the z = 5 LBG population are produced with a Top-Heavy IMF in merger-driven starbursts, and that (b) possibly, either the fraction of stellar mass produced in

The M82 ''cap'' is a gas cloud at a projected radius of 11.6 kpc along the minor axis of this well-known superwind source. The cap has been detected in optical line emission and X-ray emission and therefore provides an important probe of the wind energetics. In order to investigate the ionization source of the cap, we observed it with the Kyoto3DII Fabry-Perot instrument mounted on the Subaru Telescope. Deep continuum, H{alpha}, [N II]{lambda}6583/H{alpha}, and [S II]{lambda}{lambda}6716,6731/H{alpha} maps were obtained with subarcsecond resolution. The superior spatial resolution compared to earlier studies reveals a number of bright H{alpha} emitting clouds within the cap. The emission line widths ({approx}< 100 km s{sup -1} FWHM) and line ratios in the newly identified knots are most reasonably explained by slow to moderate shocks velocities (v{sub shock} 40-80 km s{sup -1}) driven by a fast wind into dense clouds. The momentum input from the M82 nuclear starburst region is enough to produce the observed shock. Consequently, earlier claims of photoionization by the central starburst are ruled out because they cannot explain the observed fluxes of the densest knots unless the UV escape fraction is very high (f{sub esc} > 60%), i.e., an order of magnitude higher than observed in dwarf galaxies to date. Using these results, we discuss the evolutionary history of the M82 superwind. Future UV/X-ray surveys are expected to confirm that the temperature of the gas is consistent with our moderate shock model.

We present starburst models for far-infrared/sub-millimeter/millimeter line emission of molecular and atomic gas in an evolving starburst region, which is treated as an ensemble of noninteracting hot bubbles that drive spherical shells of swept-up gas into a surrounding uniform gas medium. These bubbles and shells are driven by stellar winds and supernovae within massive star clusters formed during an instantaneous starburst. The underlying stellar radiation from the evolving clusters affects the properties and structure of photodissociation regions (PDRs) in the shells, and hence the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the molecular and atomic line emission from these swept-up shells and the associated parent giant molecular clouds contain a signature of the stage of evolution of the starburst. The physical and chemical properties of the shells and their structure are computed using a simple, well-known similarity solution for the shell expansion, a stellar population synthesis code, and a time-dependent PDR chemistry model. The SEDs for several molecular and atomic lines ({sup 12}CO and its isotope {sup 13}CO, HCN, HCO{sup +}, C, O, and C{sup +}) are computed using a nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium line radiative transfer model. By comparing our models with the available observed data of nearby infrared bright galaxies, especially M82, we constrain the models and in the case of M82, we provide estimates for the ages (5-6 Myr, 10 Myr) of recent starburst activity. We also derive a total H{sub 2} gas mass of approx(2-3.4) x 10{sup 8} M {sub sun} for the observed regions of the central 1 kpc starburst disk of M82.

We use near ultraviolet and optical photometry to investigate the dust properties in the nearby starburst galaxyM82. By combining imaging from the Swift/UVOT instrument and optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we derive the extinction curve parametrized by the standard RV factor, and the strength of the NUV 2175 Å feature - quantified by a parameter B - out to projected galactocentric distances of 4 kpc. Our analysis is robust against possible degeneracies from the properties of the underlying stellar populations. Both B and RV correlate with galactocentric distance, revealing a systematic trend of the dust properties. Our results confirm previous findings that dust in M82 is better fitted by a Milky Way standard extinction curve, in contrast to a Calzetti law. We find a strong correlation between RV and B, towards a stronger NUV bump in regions with higher RV, possibly reflecting a distribution with larger dust grain sizes. The data we use were taken before SN2014J, and therefore can be used to probe the properties of the interstellar medium before the event. Our RV values around the position of the supernova are significantly higher than recent measurements post-SN2014J (RV ≈ 1.4). This result is consistent with a significant change in the dust properties after the supernova event, either from disruption of large grains or from the contribution by an intrinsic circumstellar component. Intrinsic variations among supernovae not accounted for could also give rise to this mismatch.

We use high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy from Keck Observatory to measure the stellar velocity dispersions of 19 super star clusters (SSCs) in the nuclear starburst of M82. The clusters have ages on the order of 10 Myr, which is many times longer than the crossing times implied by their velocity dispersions and radii. We therefore apply the virial theorem to derive the kinematic mass for 15 of the SSCs. The SSCs have masses of 2×105 to 4×106 Msolar, with a total population mass of 1.4×107 Msolar. Comparison of the loci of the young M82 SSCs and old Milky Way globular clusters in a plot of radius versus velocity dispersion suggests that the SSCs are a population of potential globular clusters. We present the mass function for the SSCs and find a power-law fit with an index of γ=-1.91+/-0.06. This result is nearly identical to the mass function of young SSCs in the Antennae galaxies. Based on observations made at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

We present 7 mm Very Large Array continuum images of the starburst galaxyM82. On arcsecond scales, two-thirds of the 7 mm continuum consists of free-free emission from H II regions. In the subarcsecond resolution map, we identify 14 compact sources, including 9 bright H II regions with N {sub lyc} > 10{sup 51} s{sup -1}. Four of the H II regions have rising spectra, implying emission measures >10{sup 8} cm{sup -6} pc. Except for one compact source with peculiar features, all other compact radio sources are found in dust lanes and do not have optical or near-infrared continuum counterparts. Four regions of extended, high brightness (EM >10{sup 7} cm{sup -6} pc) radio emission are found in our high-resolution map, including some as large as {approx}2'', or 30 pc, representing either associations of small H II regions, or sheet-like structures of denser gas. The good correlation between 7 mm emission and Spitzer IRAC 8 {mu}m continuum-removed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature suggests that PAH emission may track the recently formed OB stars. We find an excellent correlation between molecular gas and star formation, particularly dense gas traced by HCN, down to the {approx}45 pc scale in M82. We also find star formation efficiencies (SFEs) of 1%-10% on the same scale, based on CO maps. The highest SFE are found in regions with the highest dense gas fractions.

We have obtained deep ultraviolet imaging of the lensing cluster A1689 with the WFC3/UVIS camera onboard the Hubble Space Telescope in the F275W (30 orbits) and F336W (4 orbits) filters. These images are used to identify z ∼ 2 star-forming galaxies via their Lyman break, in the same manner that galaxies are typically selected at z ≥ 3. Because of the unprecedented depth of the images and the large magnification provided by the lensing cluster, we detect galaxies 100× fainter than previous surveys at this redshift. After removing all multiple images, we have 58 galaxies in our sample in the range –19.5 < M {sub 1500} < –13 AB mag. Because the mass distribution of A1689 is well constrained, we are able to calculate the intrinsic sensitivity of the observations as a function of source plane position, allowing for accurate determinations of effective volume as a function of luminosity. We fit the faint-end slope of the luminosity function to be α = –1.74 ± 0.08, which is consistent with the values obtained for 2.5 < z < 6. Notably, there is no turnover in the luminosity function down to M {sub 1500} = –13 AB mag. We fit the UV spectral slopes with photometry from existing Hubble optical imaging. The observed trend of increasingly redder slopes with luminosity at higher redshifts is observed in our sample, but with redder slopes at all luminosities and average reddening of (E(B – V)) = 0.15 mag. We assume the stars in these galaxies are metal poor (0.2 Z {sub ☉}) compared to their brighter counterparts (Z {sub ☉}), resulting in bluer assumed intrinsic UV slopes and larger derived values for dust extinction. The total UV luminosity density at z ∼ 2 is 4.31{sub −0.60}{sup +0.68}×10{sup 26} erg s{sup –1} Hz{sup –1} Mpc{sup –3}, more than 70% of which is emitted by galaxies in the luminosity range of our sample. Finally, we determine the global star formation rate density from UV-selected galaxies at z ∼ 2 (assuming a constant dust

We present here the first convincing observational manifestation of a magnetar-like magnetic field in an accreting neutron star in binary system - the first pulsating ultraluminous X-ray source X-2 in the galaxyM82. Using the Chandra X-ray observatory data, we show that the source exhibit the bimodal distribution of the luminosity with two well-defined peaks separated by a factor of 40. This behaviour can be interpreted as the action of the `propeller regime' of accretion. The onset of the propeller in a 1.37 s pulsar at luminosity of ˜1040 erg s-1 implies the dipole component of the neutron star magnetic field of ˜1014 G.

Galactic winds are one of the most dramatic forms of stellar feedback in the local universe, and an important ingredient of galaxy evolution. These kpc-scale outflows are driven by high-pressure hot gas (~10^7 - 10^8 K) originating in supernova explosions and stellar winds from powerful starbursts. We present a detailed spectral analysis of the central ~1 kpc region of M82 using ~500 ks of Chandra ACIS-S observations. We have constructed high spatial resolution (1"-10") thermodynamic maps. We will discuss the spatial correlations of these parameter values with star-forming activity, as well as warm and cold gas. We also discuss the detection and origin of the Fe K emission lines (K alpha, He-like and Ly alpha).

New infrared photometry, spectroscopy, and mapping of M82 and spectroscopy of NGC 253 are used with previously published results of constrain star-burst models of the energetic nuclear sources in these galaxies. Bursts of star formation can account quantitatively for the properties of these sources, including the high luminosities, strong nonthermal radio emission, correspondence of radio and infrared sources, large population of red giants and supergiants, large ultraviolet fluxes, and X-ray luminosities. However, the initial mass function (IMF) in these regions must be biased against the formation of solar-mass stars, compared with the IMF in the solar neighborhood, and the conversion of gas into stars must be very efficient.

We report contributions to cosmic infrared background (CIB) intensities originating from known galaxies and their faint companions at submillimeter wavelengths. Using the publicly available UltraVISTA catalog and maps at 250, 350, and 500 μm from the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey, we perform a novel measurement that exploits the fact that uncataloged sources may bias stacked flux densities—particularly if the resolution of the image is poor—and intentionally smooth the images before stacking and summing intensities. By smoothing the maps we are capturing the contribution of faint (undetected in {K}S˜ 23.4) sources that are physically associated, or correlated, with the detected sources. We find that the cumulative CIB increases with increased smoothing, reaching 9.82 ± 0.78, 5.77 ± 0.43 and 2.32+/- 0.19 {{nWm}}-2 {{sr}}-1 at 250, 350, and 500 μm at 300 {arcsec} FWHM. This corresponds to a fraction of the fiducial CIB of 0.94 ± 0.23, 1.07 ± 0.31, and 0.97 ± 0.26 at 250, 350, and 500 μm, where the uncertainties are dominated by those of the absolute CIB. We then propose, with a simple model combining parametric descriptions for stacked flux densities and stellar mass functions, that emission from galaxies with log(M/{M}⊙ )\\gt 8.5 can account for most of the measured total intensities and argue against contributions from extended, diffuse emission. Finally, we discuss prospects for future survey instruments to improve the estimates of the absolute CIB levels, and observe any potentially remaining emission at z\\gt 4.

It has been proposed that the charge-exchange (CX) process at the interface between hot and cool interstellar gases could contribute significantly to the observed soft X-ray emission in star-forming galaxies. We analyze the XMM-Newton/reflection grating spectrometer (RGS) spectrum of M82 using a newly developed CX model combined with a single-temperature thermal plasma to characterize the volume-filling hot gas. The CX process is largely responsible for not only the strongly enhanced forbidden lines of the Kα triplets of various He-like ions but also good fractions of the Lyα transitions of C VI (∼87%), O VIII, and N VII (≳50%) as well. In total about a quarter of the X-ray flux in the RGS 6-30 Å band originates in the CX. We infer an ion incident rate of 3 × 10{sup 51} s{sup –1} undergoing CX at the hot and cool gas interface and an effective area of the interface of ∼2 × 10{sup 45} cm{sup 2} that is one order of magnitude larger than the cross section of the global biconic outflow. With the CX contribution accounted for, the best-fit temperature of the hot gas is 0.6 keV, and the metal abundances are approximately solar. We further show that the same CX/thermal plasma model also gives an excellent description of the EPIC-pn spectrum of the outflow Cap, projected at 11.6 kpc away from the galactic disk of M82. This analysis demonstrates that the CX is potentially an important contributor to the X-ray emission from starburst galaxies and also an invaluable tool to probe the interface astrophysics.

It has been proposed that the charge-exchange (CX) process at the interface between hot and cool interstellar gases could contribute significantly to the observed soft X-ray emission in star-forming galaxies. We analyze the XMM-Newton/reflection grating spectrometer (RGS) spectrum of M82 using a newly developed CX model combined with a single-temperature thermal plasma to characterize the volume-filling hot gas. The CX process is largely responsible for not only the strongly enhanced forbidden lines of the Kα triplets of various He-like ions but also good fractions of the Lyα transitions of C VI (~87%), O VIII, and N VII (gsim50%) as well. In total about a quarter of the X-ray flux in the RGS 6-30 Å band originates in the CX. We infer an ion incident rate of 3 × 1051 s-1 undergoing CX at the hot and cool gas interface and an effective area of the interface of ~2 × 1045 cm2 that is one order of magnitude larger than the cross section of the global biconic outflow. With the CX contribution accounted for, the best-fit temperature of the hot gas is 0.6 keV, and the metal abundances are approximately solar. We further show that the same CX/thermal plasma model also gives an excellent description of the EPIC-pn spectrum of the outflow Cap, projected at 11.6 kpc away from the galactic disk of M82. This analysis demonstrates that the CX is potentially an important contributor to the X-ray emission from starburst galaxies and also an invaluable tool to probe the interface astrophysics.

We have used the zCOSMOS-bright 10k sample to identify 3244 Spitzer/MIPS 24 mum-selected galaxies with 0.06 mJy < S{sub 24{sub m}}u{sub m} approx< 0.50 mJy and I{sub AB} < 22.5, over 1.5 deg{sup 2} of the COSMOS field, and studied different spectral properties, depending on redshift. At 0.2 < z < 0.3, we found that different reddening laws of common use in the literature explain the dust extinction properties of approx80% of our infrared (IR) sources, within the error bars. For up to 16% of objects, instead, the Halpha lambda6563/Hbeta lambda4861 ratios are too high for their IR/UV attenuations, which is probably a consequence of inhomogeneous dust distributions. In only a few of our galaxies at 0.2 < z < 0.3, the IR emission could be mainly produced by dust heated by old rather than young stars. Besides, the line ratios of approx22% of our galaxies suggest that they might be star-formation/nuclear-activity composite systems. At 0.5 < z < 0.7, we estimated galaxy metallicities for 301 galaxies: at least 12% of them are securely below the upper-branch mass-metallicity trend, which is consistent with the local relation. Finally, we performed a combined analysis of the H{sub d}elta equivalent width versus D{sub n} (4000) diagram for 1722 faint and bright 24 mum galaxies at 0.6 < z < 1.0, spanning two decades in mid-IR luminosity. We found that, while secondary bursts of star formation are necessary to explain the position of the most luminous IR galaxies in that diagram, quiescent, exponentially declining star formation histories can well reproduce the spectral properties of approx40% of the less luminous sources. Our results suggest a transition in the possible modes of star formation at total IR luminosities L{sub TIR} approx (3 +- 2) x 10{sup 11} L{sub sun}.

The close relation of star formation with molecular gas indicated by observations and assumed in recent models implies that the efficiency with which galaxies convert their gas into stars depends on gas metallicity. This is because abundance of molecular hydrogen is sensitive to abundance of dust, which catalyzes formation of H{sub 2} and helps to shield it from dissociating radiation. In this study, we point out that in the absence of significant pre-enrichment by Population III stars forming out of zero metallicity gas, such H{sub 2}-based star formation is expected to leave an imprint in the form of bi-modality in the metallicity distribution among dwarf galaxies and in the metallicity distribution of stars within individual galaxies. The bi-modality arises because when gas metallicity (and dust abundance) is low, formation of molecular gas is inefficient, the gas consumption timescale is long, and star formation and metal enrichment proceed slowly. When metallicity reaches a critical threshold value star formation and enrichment accelerate, which leads to rapid increase in both stellar mass and metallicity of galaxies. We demonstrate this process both using a simple analytical model and full cosmological simulations. In contrast, the observed metallicity distributions of dwarf galaxies or stars within them are not bi-modal. We argue that this discrepancy points to substantial early stochastic pre-enrichment by Population III stars to levels Z {approx} 10{sup -2} Z{sub Sun} in dense, star-forming regions of early galaxies.

We present 75'' Multiplication-Sign 75'' size maps of M82 at 6.4 {mu}m, 6.6 {mu}m, 7.7 {mu}m, 31.5 {mu}m, and 37.1 {mu}m with a resolution of {approx}4'' that we have obtained with the mid-IR camera FORCAST on SOFIA. We find strong emission from the inner 60'' ({approx}1 kpc) along the major axis, with the main peak 5'' west-southwest of the nucleus and a secondary peak 4'' east-northeast of the nucleus. The detailed morphology of the emission differs among the bands, which is likely due to different dust components dominating the continuum emission at short mid-IR wavelengths and long mid-IR wavelengths. We include Spitzer-IRS and Herschel/PACS 70 {mu}m data to fit spectral energy distribution templates at both emission peaks. The best-fitting templates have extinctions of A{sub V} = 18 and A{sub V} = 9 toward the main and secondary emission peak and we estimated a color temperature of 68 K at both peaks from the 31 {mu}m and 37 {mu}m measurement. At the emission peaks the estimated dust masses are on the order of 10{sup 4} M{sub Sun }.

Context. M82 is one of the nearest and brightest starburst galaxies. It has been extensively studied in the past decade and by now is considered the prototypical extragalactic photon-dominated region (PDR) and a reference for studying star formation feedback. Aims: Our aim is to characterize the molecular chemistry in M82 at spatial scales of giant molecular clouds (GMCs), ~100 pc, to investigate the feedback effects of the star formation activity. Methods: We present interferometric observations of the CN 1 → 0 (113.491 GHz), N2H+1 → 0 (93.173 GHz), H(41)α (92.034 GHz), CH3CN (91.987 GHz), CS 3 → 2 (146.969 GHz), c-C3H2 31,2 → 22,1 (145.089 GHz), H2CO 20,2 → 10,1 (145.603 GHz), and HC3N 16 → 15 (145.601 GHz) lines carried out with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI). PDR chemical modeling was used to interpret these observations. Results: Our results show that the abundances of N2H+, CS and H13CO+ remain quite constant across the galaxy, confirming that these species are excellent tracers of the dense molecular gas. In contrast, the abundance of CN increases by a factor of ~3 in the inner x2 bar orbits. The [CN]/[N2H+] ratio is well correlated with the H(41)α emission at all spatial scales down to ~100 pc. Chemical modeling shows that the variations in the [CN]/[N2H+] ratio can be explained as the consequence of differences in the local intestellar UV field and in the average cloud sizes within the nucleus of the galaxy. Conclusions: Our high spatial resolution imaging of the starburst galaxyM82 shows that the star formation activity has a strong impact on the chemistry of the molecular gas. In particular, the entire nucleus behaves as a giant PDR whose chemistry is determined by the local UV flux. The detection of N2H+ shows the existence of a population of clouds with Av> 20 mag all across the galaxy plane. These clouds constitute the molecular gas reservoir for the formation of new stars and, although it is distributed throughout

We present a spectroscopic survey of 318 faint ({R}˜ 27, L˜ 0.1{L}*), Lyα-emission-selected galaxies (LAEs) in regions centered on the positions of hyperluminous QSOs (HLQSOs) at 2.5\\lt z\\lt 3. A sample of 32 LAEs with rest-frame optical emission line spectra from Keck/Multi-Object Spectrometer For InfraRed Exploration (MOSFIRE) are used to interpret the LAE spectra in the context of their systemic redshifts. The fields are part of the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey, which includes substantial ancillary multi-wavelength imaging from both the ground and space. From a quantitative analysis of the diverse Lyα spectral morphologies, including line widths, asymmetries, and multi-peaked profiles, we find that peak widths and separations are typically smaller than among samples of more luminous continuum-selected galaxies (Lyman-break galaxies and their analogs; LBGs) at similar redshifts. We find tentative evidence for an association between Lyα spectral morphology and external illumination by the nearby HLQSO. Using the MOSFIRE subsample, we find that the peak of the resolved (R ≈ 1300) Lyα line is shifted by +200 km s-1 with respect to systemic across a diverse set of galaxies including both LAEs and LBGs. We also find a small number of objects with significantly blueshifted Lyα emission, a potential indicator of accreting gas. The Lyα-to-Hα line ratios measured for the MOSFIRE subset suggest that the LAEs in this sample have Lyα escape fractions {f}{esc,{Ly}α } ≈ 30%, significantly higher than typical LBG samples. Using redshifts calibrated by our MOSFIRE sample, we construct composite LAE spectra, finding the first evidence for metal-enriched outflows in such intrinsically faint high-redshift galaxies. These outflows have smaller continuum covering fractions ({f}{{c}}≈ 0.3) and velocities ({v}{ave} ≈ 100-200 km s-1, {v}{max} ≈ 500 km s-1) than those associated with typical LBGs, suggesting that the gas covering fraction is a likely driver of

We present the results of ROSAT Positive Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) observations of the two early-type galaxies NGC 4365 and NGC 4382. These galaxies are among those observed with Einstein to have the lowest X-ray to optical flux ratios of early-type galaxies. The PSCP data show that for radii r greater than 50 arcsec the radial distributions of the X-ray surface brightness are consistent with the optical distributions of King (1978). We also find that these galaxies have X-ray spectra significantly different from those observed in X-ray-bright ellipticals, with a relative excess of counts detected in the softest spectral channels. This confirms earlier Einstein results. The characteristics of the ROSAT PSPC do not allow us to discriminate between possible spectral models. If we adopt a two-component thermal model on the grounds of physical plausibility, we find that the spectral data can be fitted with a very soft optically thin component, with kT approximately 0.2 keV, and a hard component with kT greater than (1.0-1.5) keV. The hard component has a luminosity consistent with that expected from the integrated emission of a population of low mass-X-ray binaries in these galaxies; the nature of the very soft component is more speculative. Candidates include the coronal emission of late-type stars, supersoft X-ray sources, RS CVn, and perhaps a hot Interstellar Medium (ISM). Alternatively, the spectal data may be fitted with a 0.6-1 keV bremsstrahlung spectrum (expontential plus Gaunt), and may suggest the presence of a totally new population of X-ray sources.

We present high-resolution HIFI spectroscopy of the nucleus of the archetypical starburst galaxyM82. Six 12CO lines, 2 13CO lines and 4 fine-structure lines have been detected. Besides showing the effects of the overall velocity structure of the nuclear region, the line profiles also indicate the presence of multiple components with different optical depths, temperatures, and densities in the observing beam. The data have been interpreted using a grid of PDR models. It is found that the majority of the molecular gas is in low density (n = 103.5 cm-3) clouds, with column densities of NH = 1021.5 cm-2 and a relatively low UV radiation field (G0 = 102). The remaining gas is predominantly found in clouds with higher densities (n = 105 cm-3) and radiation fields (G0 = 102.75), but somewhat lower column densities (NH = 1021.2 cm-2). The highest J CO lines are dominated by a small (1% relative surface filling) component, with an even higher density (n = 106 cm-3) and UV field (G0 = 103.25). These results show the strength of multi-component modelling for interpretating the integrated properties of galaxies.

We study the properties of massive galaxies at an average redshift of z {approx} 0.34 through stacking more than 42,000 images of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This is the largest data set ever used for such an analysis and it allows us to explore the outskirts of massive red galaxies at unprecedented physical scales. Our image stacks extend farther than 400 kpc, where the r-band profile surface brightness reaches 30 mag arcsec{sup -2}. This analysis confirms that the stellar bodies of LRGs follow a simple Sersic profile out to 100 kpc. At larger radii, the profiles deviate from the best-fit Sersic models and exhibit extra light in the r-, i-, and z-band stacks. This excess light can probably be attributed to unresolved intragroup or intracluster light or a change in the light profile itself. We further show that standard analyses of SDSS-depth images typically miss 20% of the total stellar light and underestimate the size of LRGs by 10% compared to our best-fit r-band Sersic model of n = 5.5 and r{sub e} = 13.1 kpc. If the excess light at r > 100 kpc is considered to be part of the galaxy, the best-fit r-band Sersic parameters are n = 5.8 and r{sub e} = 13.6 kpc. In addition, we study the radially dependent stack ellipticity and find an increase with radius from {epsilon} = 0.25 at r = 10 kpc to {epsilon} = 0.3 at r = 100 kpc. This provides support that the stellar light that we trace out to at least 100 kpc is physically associated with the galaxies themselves and may confirm that the halos of individual LRGs have higher ellipticities than their central parts. Lastly, we show that the broadband color gradients of the stacked images are flat beyond roughly 40 kpc, suggesting that the stellar populations do not vary significantly with radius in the outer parts of massive ellipticals.

We have obtained deep ultraviolet imaging of the lensing cluster A1689 with the WFC3/UVIS camera onboard the Hubble Space Telescope in the F275W (30 orbits) and F336W (4 orbits) filters. These images are used to identify z ~ 2 star-forming galaxies via their Lyman break, in the same manner that galaxies are typically selected at z >= 3. Because of the unprecedented depth of the images and the large magnification provided by the lensing cluster, we detect galaxies 100× fainter than previous surveys at this redshift. After removing all multiple images, we have 58 galaxies in our sample in the range -19.5 < M 1500 < -13 AB mag. Because the mass distribution of A1689 is well constrained, we are able to calculate the intrinsic sensitivity of the observations as a function of source plane position, allowing for accurate determinations of effective volume as a function of luminosity. We fit the faint-end slope of the luminosity function to be α = -1.74 ± 0.08, which is consistent with the values obtained for 2.5 < z < 6. Notably, there is no turnover in the luminosity function down to M 1500 = -13 AB mag. We fit the UV spectral slopes with photometry from existing Hubble optical imaging. The observed trend of increasingly redder slopes with luminosity at higher redshifts is observed in our sample, but with redder slopes at all luminosities and average reddening of langE(B - V)rang = 0.15 mag. We assume the stars in these galaxies are metal poor (0.2 Z ⊙) compared to their brighter counterparts (Z ⊙), resulting in bluer assumed intrinsic UV slopes and larger derived values for dust extinction. The total UV luminosity density at z ~ 2 is 4.31^{+0.68}_{-0.60} \\times 10^{26} erg s-1 Hz-1 Mpc-3, more than 70% of which is emitted by galaxies in the luminosity range of our sample. Finally, we determine the global star formation rate density from UV-selected galaxies at z ~ 2 (assuming a constant dust extinction correction of 4.2 over all luminosities and a Kroupa initial

Context. Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies recently discovered around the Milky Way (MW) contain extremely metal-poor stars, and might represent the building blocks of low-metallicity components of the MW. Among them, the Boötes I dwarf spheroidal galaxy is of particular interest because of its exclusively old stellar population. Detailed chemical compositions of individual stars in this galaxy are a key to understanding formation and chemical evolution in the oldest galaxies in the Universe and their roles in building up the MW halo. Aims: Previous studies of the chemical abundances of Boötes I show discrepancies in elemental abundances between different authors, and thus a consistent picture of its chemical enrichment history has not yet been established. In the present work, we independently determine chemical compositions of six red giant stars in Boötes I, some of which overlap with those analyzed in the previous studies. Based on the derived abundances, we re-examine trends and scatters in elemental abundances and make comparisons with MW field halo stars and other dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the MW. Methods: High-resolution spectra of a sample of stars were obtained with the High Dispersion Spectrograph mounted on the Subaru Telescope. Abundances of 12 elements, including C, Na, α, Fe-peak, and neutron capture elements, were determined for the sample stars. The abundance results were compared to those in field MW halo stars previously obtained using an abundance analysis technique similar to the present study. Results: We confirm the low metallicity of Boo-094 ([Fe/H] = -3.4). Except for this star, the abundance ratios ([X/Fe]) of elements lighter than zinc are generally homogeneous with small scatter around the mean values in the metallicities spanned by the other five stars (-2.7 < [Fe/H] < -1.8). Specifically, all of the sample stars with [Fe/H] > -2.7 show no significant enhancement of carbon. The [Mg/Fe] and [Ca/Fe] ratios are almost constant with a

The neutral hydrogen (HI) luminosity-linewidth profile relationship is a valuable tool in radio astronomy. Among other things, it helps astronomers determine distances, rotation velocities, and hydrogen densities in distant galaxies. Data for over 500 galaxies had been taken in October, 1999 by J. R. Fisher using the Arecibo Radio Telescope. The data helps to support research completed with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite and provide a comparison of luminosity-linewidth and supernovae Ia distance scales. During the summer, 2000 Research Experience for Teachers (RET), T. S. S. worked at the NRAO in Green Bank to reduce this HI data. In order to complete the task, a working knowledge of AIPS++ and Glish was acquired. Glish allows users easy access to all AIPS++ analysis routines and provides a means of writing customized applications by bundling together collections of commands into new functions. During the appointment, AIPS++ scripts were written that implement data correction factors, display data scans, and assist in making precise measurements. As a volunteer researcher, T.S.S. is continuing work on this project during the school year. In addition, selected high school students will assist in completing the data reduction for these galaxies. In any science education program whether it be elementary school or college, it is crucial that students be provided the opportunity to experience science rather than to simply be told about it. Science is a vehicle by which humans contribute to the understanding of the universe. Thanks to the RET experience, Oil City students will be going on a little "drive" this year. This poster will explore the astronomical journey taken by these students as well as the pedagogical destination.

Using deep Keck spectroscopy of Lyman break galaxies selected from infrared imaging data taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the Hubble Space Telescope, we present new evidence for a reversal in the redshift-dependent fraction of star-forming galaxies with detectable Lyman alpha (Ly{alpha}) emission in the redshift range 6.3 < z < 8.8. Our earlier surveys with the DEIMOS spectrograph demonstrated a significant increase with redshift in the fraction of line emitting galaxies over the interval 4 < z < 6, particularly for intrinsically faint systems which dominate the luminosity density. Using the longer wavelength sensitivities of Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and NIRSPEC, we have targeted 19 Lyman break galaxies selected using recent WFC3/IR data whose photometric redshifts are in the range 6.3 < z < 8.8 and which span a wide range of intrinsic luminosities. Our spectroscopic exposures typically reach a 5{sigma} sensitivity of <50 A for the rest-frame equivalent width (EW) of Ly{alpha} emission. Despite the high fraction of emitters seen only a few hundred million years later, we find only two convincing and one possible line emitter in our more distant sample. Combining with published data on a further seven sources obtained using FORS2 on the ESO Very Large Telescope, and assuming continuity in the trends found at lower redshift, we discuss the significance of this apparent reversal in the redshift-dependent Ly{alpha} fraction in the context of our range in continuum luminosity. Assuming all the targeted sources are at their photometric redshift and our assumptions about the Ly{alpha} EW distribution are correct, we would expect to find so few emitters in less than 1% of the realizations drawn from our lower redshift samples. Our new results provide further support for the suggestion that, at the redshifts now being probed spectroscopically, we are entering the era where the intergalactic medium is partially neutral. With the arrival of more

We present the intensive spectroscopic follow up of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2014J in the starburst galaxyM82. Twenty-seven optical spectra have been acquired from 2014 January 22 to September 1 with the Isaac Newton and William Herschel Telescopes. After correcting the observations for the recession velocity of M82 and for Milky Way and host galaxy extinction, we measured expansion velocities from spectral line blueshifts and pseudo-equivalent width of the strongest features in the spectra, which gives an idea on how elements are distributed within the ejecta. We position SN 2014J in the Benetti, Branch et al. and Wang et al. diagrams. These diagrams are based on properties of the Si II features and provide dynamical and chemical information about the SN ejecta. The nearby SN 2011fe, which showed little evidence for reddening in its host galaxy, is shown as a reference for comparisons. SN 2014J is a border-line object between the Core-normal and Broad-line groups, which corresponds to an intermediate position between low-velocity gradient and high-velocity gradient objects. SN 2014J follows the R(Si II)-Δm15 correlation, which confirms its classification as a relatively normal SN Ia. Our description of the SN Ia in terms of the evolution of the pseudo-equivalent width of various ions as well as the position in the various diagrams put this specific SN Ia into the overall sample of SN Ia.

The HUDF09 data are the deepest near-IR observations ever, reaching to 29.5 mag. Luminosity functions (LFs) from these new HUDF09 data for 132 z {approx} 7 and z {approx} 8 galaxies are combined with new LFs for z {approx} 5-6 galaxies and the earlier z {approx} 4 LF to reach to very faint limits (<0.05 L*{sub z=3}). The faint-end slopes {alpha} are steep: -1.79 {+-} 0.12 (z {approx} 5), -1.73 {+-} 0.20 (z {approx} 6), -2.01 {+-} 0.21 (z {approx} 7), and -1.91 {+-} 0.32 (z {approx} 8). Slopes {alpha} {approx}< -2 lead to formally divergent UV fluxes, though galaxies are not expected to form below {approx} - 10 AB mag. These results have important implications for reionization. The weighted mean slope at z {approx} 6-8 is -1.87 {+-} 0.13. For such steep slopes, and a faint-end limit of -10 AB mag, galaxies provide a very large UV ionizing photon flux. While current results show that galaxies can reionize the universe by z {approx} 6, matching the Thomson optical depths is more challenging. Extrapolating the current LF evolution to z > 8, taking {alpha} to be -1.87 {+-} 0.13 (the mean value at z {approx} 6-8), and adopting typical parameters, we derive Thomson optical depths of 0.061{sup +0.009}{sub -0.006}. However, this result will change if the faint-end slope {alpha} is not constant with redshift. We test this hypothesis and find a weak, though uncertain, trend to steeper slopes at earlier times (d{alpha}/dz {approx} -0.05 {+-} 0.04) that would increase the Thomson optical depths to 0.079{sup +0.063}{sub -0.017}, consistent with recent WMAP estimates ({tau} = 0.088 {+-} 0.015). It may thus not be necessary to resort to extreme assumptions about the escape fraction or clumping factor. Nevertheless, the uncertainties remain large. Deeper WFC3/IR+ACS observations can further constrain the UV ionizing flux from faintgalaxies.

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with apparent luminosities up to hundreds of times the Eddington luminosity for a neutron star have been discovered in external galaxies. The existence of intermediate-mass black holes has been proposed to explain these sources. We present evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole in the ULX M82 X-1 based on the spectral features and timing (quasi-periodic oscillation [QPO]) properties of the X-radiation from this source. We revisited XMM-Newton and Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) data for M82 X-1 obtained in 2001 and 1997 for XMM and RXTE, respectively. We show for these observations that the source is either in transition or in a high/soft state with photon spectral indices 2.1 and 2.7, respectively. We confirm the early determination of the QPO frequency nu approx. = 55 mHz in this source by Strohmayer & Mushotzky and identify this as the low-frequency QPO for the source. We apply a new method to determine the black hole mass of M82 X-1. The method uses the index-QPO low-frequency correlation that has been recently established in Galactic black hole candidates GRS 1915+105, XTE JI550-564, 4U 1630-47, and others. Using scaling arguments and the correlation derived from the consideration of Galactic black holes, we conclude that M82 X-1 is an intermediate black hole with a mass of the order of 1000 solar mass,.

We present imaging and spectroscopy of the quasar 3CR 196 (z(sub e) = 0.871), which has 21 cm and optical absorption at z(sub a) = 0.437. We observed the region of Ly alpha absorption in 3CR 196 at z(sub a) = 0.437 with the Faint Object Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. This region of the spectrum is complicated because of the presence of a Lyman limit and strong lines from a z(sub a) approx. z(sub e) system. We conclude that there is Ly alpha absorption with an H I column density greater than 2.7 x 10(exp 19) cm(exp -2) and most probably 1.5 x 10(exp 20) cm(exp -2). Based on the existence of the high H I column density along both the optical and radio lines of sight, separated by more than 15 kpc, we conclude that the Ly alpha absorption must arise in a system comparable in size to the gaseous disks of spiral galaxies. A barred spiral galaxy, previously reported as a diffuse object in the recent work of Boisse and Boulade, can be seen near the quasar in an image taken at 0.1 resolution with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on the HST. If this galaxy is at the absorption redshift, the luminosity is approximately L(sub *) and any H I disk should extend in front of the optical quasar and radio lobes of 3CR 196, giving rise to both the Ly alpha and 21 cm absorption. In the z(sub a) approx. z(sub e) system we detect Lyman lines and the Lyman limit, as well as high ion absorption lines of C III, N V, S VI, and O VI. This absorption probably only partially covers the emission-line region. The ionization parameter is approximately 0.1. Conditions in this region may be similar to those in broad absorption line QSOs.

A deep X-ray survey of the Hubble Deep Field-North (HDF-N) and its environs is performed using data collected by the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Currently a 221.9 ks exposure is available, the deepest ever presented, and here we give results on X-ray sources located in the 8.6‧×8.7‧ area covered by the Caltech Faint Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (the ``Caltech area''). This area has (1) deep photometric coverage in several optical and near-infrared bands; (2) extensive coverage at radio, submillimeter, and mid-infrared wavelengths; and (3) some of the deepest and most complete spectroscopic coverage ever obtained. It is also where the X-ray data have the greatest sensitivity; the minimum detectable fluxes in the 0.5-2 keV (soft) and 2-8 keV (hard) bands are ~1.3×10-16 and ~6.5×10-16 ergs cm-2 s-1, respectively. More than ~80% of the extragalactic X-ray background in the hard band is resolved. The 82 Chandra sources detected in the Caltech area are correlated with more than 25 multiwavelength source catalogs, and the results of these correlations as well as spectroscopic follow-up results obtained with the Keck and Hobby-Eberly Telescopes are presented. All but nine of the Chandra sources are detected optically with Rfaint, optically bright, nearby galaxies emerges at soft-band fluxes of 5.0) objects. A total of 16 of the 67 1.4 GHz μJy sources in the Caltech area are detected in the

Recent X-ray observations of star-forming galaxies such as M82 have shown the Ly β/Ly α line ratio of Ne X to be in excess of predictions for thermal electron impact excitation. Here, we demonstrate that the observed line ratio may be due to charge exchange and can be used to constrain the ion kinetic energy to be ≲ 500 eV/u. This is accomplished by computing spectra and line ratios via a range of theoretical methods and comparing these to experiments with He over astrophysically relevant collision energies. The charge exchange emission spectra calculations were performed for Ne10++ H and Ne10++ He using widely applied approaches including the atomic orbital close coupling, classical trajectory Monte Carlo, and multichannel Landau-Zener (MCLZ) methods. A comparison of the results from these methods indicates that for the considered energy range and neutrals (H, He) the so-called low-energy ℓ-distribution MCLZ method provides the most likely reliable predictions.

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are powerful cosmological “standardizable candles” and the most precise distance indicators. However, a limiting factor in their use for precision cosmology rests on our ability to correct for the dust extinction toward them. SN 2014J in the starburst galaxyM82, the closest detected SN Ia in three decades, provides unparalleled opportunities to study the dust extinction toward an SN Ia. In order to derive the extinction as a function of wavelength, we model the color excesses toward SN 2014J, which are observationally derived over a wide wavelength range, in terms of dust models consisting of a mixture of silicate and graphite. The resulting extinction laws steeply, rise toward the far-ultraviolet, even steeper than that of the SMC. We infer a visual extinction of {A}V≈ 1.9 {mag}, a reddening of E(B-V)≈ 1.1 {mag}, and a total-to-selective extinction ratio of RV ≈ 1.7, consistent with that previously derived from photometric, spectroscopic, and polarimetric observations. The size distributions of the dust in the interstellar medium toward SN 2014J are skewed toward substantially smaller grains than that of the Milky Way and the SMC.

We present new Herschel-SPIRE imaging spectroscopy (194-671 μm) of the bright starburst galaxyM82. Covering the CO ladder from J = 4 → 3 to J = 13 → 12, spectra were obtained at multiple positions for a fully sampled ~3 × 3 arcmin map, including a longer exposure at the central position. We present measurements of 12CO, 13CO, [C I], [N II], HCN, and HCO+ in emission, along with OH+, H2O+, and HF in absorption and H2O in both emission and absorption, with discussion. We use a radiative transfer code and Bayesian likelihood analysis to model the temperature, density, column density, and filling factor of multiple components of molecular gas traced by 12CO and 13CO, adding further evidence to the high-J lines tracing a much warmer (~500 K), less massive component than the low-J lines. The addition of 13CO (and [C I]) is new and indicates that [C I] may be tracing different gas than 12CO. No temperature/density gradients can be inferred from the map, indicating that the single-pointing spectrum is descriptive of the bulk properties of the galaxy. At such a high temperature, cooling is dominated by molecular hydrogen. Photon-dominated region (PDR) models require higher densities than those indicated by our Bayesian likelihood analysis in order to explain the high-J CO line ratios, though cosmic-ray-enhanced PDR models can do a better job reproducing the emission at lower densities. Shocks and turbulent heating are likely required to explain the bright high-J emission.

We present new Herschel-SPIRE imaging spectroscopy (194-671 {mu}m) of the bright starburst galaxyM82. Covering the CO ladder from J = 4 {yields} 3 to J = 13 {yields} 12, spectra were obtained at multiple positions for a fully sampled {approx}3 Multiplication-Sign 3 arcmin map, including a longer exposure at the central position. We present measurements of {sup 12}CO, {sup 13}CO, [C I], [N II], HCN, and HCO{sup +} in emission, along with OH{sup +}, H{sub 2}O{sup +}, and HF in absorption and H{sub 2}O in both emission and absorption, with discussion. We use a radiative transfer code and Bayesian likelihood analysis to model the temperature, density, column density, and filling factor of multiple components of molecular gas traced by {sup 12}CO and {sup 13}CO, adding further evidence to the high-J lines tracing a much warmer ({approx}500 K), less massive component than the low-J lines. The addition of {sup 13}CO (and [C I]) is new and indicates that [C I] may be tracing different gas than {sup 12}CO. No temperature/density gradients can be inferred from the map, indicating that the single-pointing spectrum is descriptive of the bulk properties of the galaxy. At such a high temperature, cooling is dominated by molecular hydrogen. Photon-dominated region (PDR) models require higher densities than those indicated by our Bayesian likelihood analysis in order to explain the high-J CO line ratios, though cosmic-ray-enhanced PDR models can do a better job reproducing the emission at lower densities. Shocks and turbulent heating are likely required to explain the bright high-J emission.

Lo, Sargent, & Young (1993) have recently published an analysis of the H I kinematics of nine faint dwarf galaxies. Among other things, they conclude that the masses of these systems, as deduced by the modified dynamics (MOND) from the observed velocity dispersions, are systematically smaller than even the H I masses that are observed in these systems, by a factor of 10 or more. Such a state of things would speak strongly against MOND. We show here that the MOND mass estimator used by Lo et al. is smaller than the proper expression, by a factor of about 20. We derive the proper mass estimator as an exact virial-like relation between the three-dimensional root-mean-square (rms) velocity, (v2), and the total mass, M, of an arbitrary, self-gravitating system, made of light constituents, that is everywhere in the very low acceleration regime of MOND. This reads M = (9/4) ((v2) 2)/Ga0. (For a system that is not stationary, (v2) also involves an average over time.) We do this in the Bekenstein-Milgrom formulation of MOND as a modification of gravity. This relation has been known before for the special case of stationary, spherical system. We further generalize this relation to cases with constituent masses that are not small compared with that of the whole system. We discuss various applications of the M-v relation; inter alia, we derive an expression for the two-body force law in the large-distance limit. With the correct estimator the predictions of MOND are, by and large, in good agreement with the total observed masses (the observed gas mass plus a stellar mass corresponding to an M/L of order one solar unit).

We use deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the Frontier Fields to accurately measure the galaxy rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function (UV LF) in the redshift range z ˜ 6-8. We combine observations in three lensing clusters, A2744, MACS 0416, and MACS 0717, and their associated parallel fields to select high-redshift dropout candidates. We use the latest lensing models to estimate the flux magnification and the effective survey volume in combination with completeness simulations performed in the source plane. We report the detection of 227 galaxy candidates at z = 6-7 and 25 candidates at z ˜ 8. While the total survey area is about 4 arcmin2 in each parallel field, it drops to about 0.6-1 arcmin2 in the cluster core fields because of the strong lensing. We compute the UV LF at z ˜ 7 using the combined galaxy sample and perform Monte Carlo simulations to determine the best-fit Schechter parameters. We are able to reliably constrain the LF down to an absolute magnitude of MUV = -15.25, which corresponds to 0.005 L⋆. More importantly, we find that the faint-end slope remains steep down to this magnitude limit with α =-{2.04}-0.17+0.13. We find a characteristic magnitude of {M}\\star =-{20.89}-0.72+0.60 and log(ϕ⋆) = -{3.54}-0.45+0.48. Our results confirm the most recent results in deep blank fields but extend the LF measurements more than two magnitudes deeper. The UV LF at z ˜ 8 is not very well constrained below MUV = -18 owing to the small number statistics and incompleteness uncertainties. To assess the contribution of galaxies to cosmic reionization, we derive the UV luminosity density at z ˜ 7 by integrating the UV LF down to an observational limit of MUV = -15. We show that our determination of log(ρUV) = 26.2 ± 0.13 (erg s-1 Hz-1 Mpc-3) can be sufficient to maintain reionization with an escape fraction of ionizing radiation of fesc = 10%-15%. Future Hubble Frontier Fields observations will certainly improve the constraints on the UV LF at

We have mapped the superwind/halo region of the nearby starburst galaxyM82 in the mid-infrared with Spitzer - IRS. The spectral regions covered include the H2 S(1)-S(3), [Ne II], [Ne III] emission lines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features. We estimate the total warm H2 mass and the kinetic energy of the outflowing warm molecular gas to be between Mwarm ˜ 5 and 17 × 106 M⊙ and EK ˜ 6 and 20 × 1053 erg. Using the ratios of the 6.2, 7.7 and 11.3 μm PAH features in the IRS spectra, we are able to estimate the average size and ionization state of the small grains in the superwind. There are large variations in the PAH flux ratios throughout the outflow. The 11.3/7.7 and the 6.2/7.7 PAH ratios both vary by more than a factor of 5 across the wind region. The northern part of the wind has a significant population of PAH's with smaller 6.2/7.7 ratios than either the starburst disc or the southern wind, indicating that on average, PAH emitters are larger and more ionized. The warm molecular gas to PAH flux ratios (H2/PAH) are enhanced in the outflow by factors of 10-100 as compared to the starburst disc. This enhancement in the H2/PAH ratio does not seem to follow the ionization of the atomic gas (as measured with the [Ne III]/[Ne II] line flux ratio) in the outflow. This suggests that much of the warm H2 in the outflow is excited by shocks. The observed H2 line intensities can be reproduced with low-velocity shocks (v < 40 km s-1) driven into moderately dense molecular gas (102 < nH < 104 cm-3) entrained in the outflow.

The ultra-luminous X-ray source M82 X-1 is one of the most promising intermediate mass black hole candidates in the local universe based on its high X-ray luminosities (10{sup 40}–10{sup 41} erg s{sup −1}) and quasi-periodic oscillations, and is possibly associated with a radio flare source. In this work, applying the sub-pixel technique to the 120 ks Chandra observation (ID: 10543) of M82 X-1, we split M82 X-1 into two sources separated by 1.″1. The secondary source is not detected in other M82 observations. The radio flare source is not found to associate with M82 X-1, but is instead associated with the nearby transient source S1 with an outburst luminosity of ∼10{sup 39} erg s{sup −1}. With X-ray outburst and radio flare activities analogous to the recently discovered micro-quasar in M31, S1 is likely to be a micro-quasar hidden in the shadow of M82 X-1.

The ultra-luminous X-ray source M82 X-1 is one of the most promising intermediate mass black hole candidates in the local universe based on its high X-ray luminosities (1040-1041 erg s-1) and quasi-periodic oscillations, and is possibly associated with a radio flare source. In this work, applying the sub-pixel technique to the 120 ks Chandra observation (ID: 10543) of M82 X-1, we split M82 X-1 into two sources separated by 1.″1. The secondary source is not detected in other M82 observations. The radio flare source is not found to associate with M82 X-1, but is instead associated with the nearby transient source S1 with an outburst luminosity of ˜1039 erg s-1. With X-ray outburst and radio flare activities analogous to the recently discovered micro-quasar in M31, S1 is likely to be a micro-quasar hidden in the shadow of M82 X-1.

We present high spatial resolution (2.3"×1.9" or 43pc×36pc at D=3.9 Mpc) 100 GHz millimeter-wave continuum emission observations with the Nobeyama Millimeter Array toward an expanding molecular superbubble in the central region of M82. The 100 GHz continuum image, which is dominated by free-free emission, revealed that the four strongest peaks are concentrated at the inner edge of the superbubble along the galactic disk. The production rates of Lyman continuum photons calculated from 100 GHz continuum flux at these peaks are an order of magnitude higher than those from the most massive star-forming regions in our Galaxy. At these regions, high-velocity ionized gas (traced by H41α and [Ne II]) can be seen, and H2O and OH masers are also concentrated. The center of the superbubble, on the other hand, is weak in molecular and free-free emissions and strong in diffuse hard X-ray emission. These observations suggest that a strong starburst produced energetic explosions and the resulting plasma and superbubble expansions and induced the present starburst regions traced by our 100 GHz continuum observations at the inner edge of the molecular superbubble. These results, therefore, provide the first clear evidence of self-induced starburst in external galaxies. The starburst at the center of the superbubble, on the other hand, is beginning to cease because of a lack of molecular gas. This kind of intense starburst seems to have occurred several times within 106-107 yr in the central region of M82.

We discuss the absorption due to various constituents of the interstellar medium (ISM) of M82 seen in moderately high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra of SN 2014J. Complex absorption from M82 is seen, at velocities 45 ≲ v {sub LSR} ≲ 260 km s{sup –1}, for Na I, K I, Ca I, Ca II, CH, CH{sup +}, and CN; many of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are also detected. Comparisons of the column densities of the atomic and molecular species and the equivalent widths of the DIBs reveal both similarities and differences in relative abundances, compared to trends seen in the ISM of our Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. Of the 10 relatively strong DIBs considered here, 6 (including λ5780.5) have strengths within ±20% of the mean values seen in the local Galactic ISM, for comparable N(K I); 2 are weaker by 20%-45% and 2 (including λ5797.1) are stronger by 25%-40%. Weaker than 'expected' DIBs (relative to N(K I), N(Na I), and E(B – V)) in some Galactic sight lines and toward several other extragalactic supernovae appear to be associated with strong CN absorption and/or significant molecular fractions. While the N(CH)/N(K I) and N(CN)/N(CH) ratios seen toward SN 2014J are similar to those found in the local Galactic ISM, the combination of high N(CH{sup +})/N(CH) and high W(5797.1)/W(5780.5) ratios has not been seen elsewhere. The centroids of many of the M82 DIBs are shifted relative to the envelope of the K I profile—likely due to component-to-component variations in W(DIB)/N(K I) that may reflect the molecular content of the individual components. We compare estimates for the host galaxy reddening E(B – V) and visual extinction A {sub V} derived from the various interstellar species with the values estimated from optical and near-IR photometry of SN 2014J.

We present photometric and spectroscopic follow-up of a sample of extragalactic novae discovered by the Palomar 60 inch telescope during a search for "Fast Transients In Nearest Galaxies" (P60-FasTING). Designed as a fast cadence (1 day) and deep (g < 21 mag) survey, P60-FasTING was particularly sensitive to short-lived and faint optical transients. The P60-FasTING nova sample includes 10 novae in M 31, 6 in M 81, 3 in M82, 1 in NGC 2403, and 1 in NGC 891. This significantly expands the known sample of extragalactic novae beyond the Local Group, including the first discoveries in a starburst environment. Surprisingly, our photometry shows that this sample is quite inconsistent with the canonical maximum-magnitude-rate-of-decline (MMRD) relation for classical novae. Furthermore, the spectra of the P60-FasTING sample are indistinguishable from classical novae. We suggest that we have uncovered a sub-class of faint and fast classical novae in a new phase space in luminosity-timescale of optical transients. Thus, novae span two orders of magnitude in both luminosity and time. Perhaps the MMRD, which is characterized only by the white dwarf mass, was an oversimplification. Nova physics appears to be characterized by a relatively rich four-dimensional parameter space in white dwarf mass, temperature, composition, and accretion rate.

We present photometric and spectroscopic follow-up of a sample of extragalactic novae discovered by the Palomar 60 inch telescope during a search for 'Fast Transients In Nearest Galaxies' (P60-FasTING). Designed as a fast cadence (1 day) and deep (g < 21 mag) survey, P60-FasTING was particularly sensitive to short-lived and faint optical transients. The P60-FasTING nova sample includes 10 novae in M 31, 6 in M 81, 3 in M82, 1 in NGC 2403, and 1 in NGC 891. This significantly expands the known sample of extragalactic novae beyond the Local Group, including the first discoveries in a starburst environment. Surprisingly, our photometry shows that this sample is quite inconsistent with the canonical maximum-magnitude-rate-of-decline (MMRD) relation for classical novae. Furthermore, the spectra of the P60-FasTING sample are indistinguishable from classical novae. We suggest that we have uncovered a sub-class of faint and fast classical novae in a new phase space in luminosity-timescale of optical transients. Thus, novae span two orders of magnitude in both luminosity and time. Perhaps the MMRD, which is characterized only by the white dwarf mass, was an oversimplification. Nova physics appears to be characterized by a relatively rich four-dimensional parameter space in white dwarf mass, temperature, composition, and accretion rate.

The number and distribution of dwarf satellite galaxies remain a critical test of cold dark matter-dominated structure formation on small scales. Until recently, observational information about galaxy formation on these scales has been limited mainly to the Local Group. We have searched for faint analogues of Local Group dwarfs around nearby bright galaxies, using a spatial clustering analysis of the photometric catalog of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8. Several other recent searches of SDSS have detected clustered satellite populations down to Δm{sub r} ≡ (m{sub r,} {sub sat} – m{sub r,} {sub main}) ∼ 6-8, using photometric redshifts to reduce background contamination. SDSS photometric redshifts are relatively imprecise, however, for faint and nearby galaxies. Instead, we use angular size to select potential nearby dwarfs and consider only the nearest isolated bright galaxies as primaries. As a result, we are able to detect an excess clustering signal from companions down to Δm{sub r} = 12, 4 mag fainter than most recent studies. We detect an overdensity of objects at separations <400 kpc, corresponding to about 4.6 ± 0.5 satellites per central galaxy, consistent with the satellite abundance expected from the Local Group, given our selection function. Although the sample of satellites detected is incomplete by construction, since it excludes the least and most compact dwarfs, this detection provides a lower bound on the average satellite luminosity function, down to luminosities corresponding to the faintest ''classical'' dwarfs of the Local Group.

Galaxies at high redshifts are a valuable tool for studying cosmic dawn, therefore it is crucial to reliably identify these galaxies. Here, we present an unambiguous and first simultaneous detection of both the Lyα emission and the Lyman break from a z=7.512 +/- 0.004 galaxy, observed in the Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS). These spectra, taken with the G102 grism on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), show a significant emission line detection (6σ ) in two observational position angles (PAs), with Lyα line flux of 1.06+/- 0.19× {10}-17 {erg} {{{s}}}-1 {{cm}}-2. The line flux is nearly a factor of four higher than that in the archival MOSFIRE spectroscopic observations. This is consistent with other recent observations, implying that ground-based near-infrared spectroscopy underestimates the total emission line fluxes, and if confirmed, can have strong implications for reionization studies that are based on ground-based Lyα measurements. A 4σ detection of the NV line in one PA also suggests a weak active galactic nucleus (AGN), and if confirmed, would make this source the highest-redshift AGN yet found. These observations from HST thus clearly demonstrate the sensitivity of the FIGS survey, and the capability of grism spectroscopy for studying the epoch of reionization.

We present optical and near-infrared multi-band linear polarimetry of the highly reddened Type Ia supernova (SN) 2014J that appeared in M82. SN 2014J exhibits large polarization at shorter wavelengths, e.g., 4.8% in the B band, which decreases rapidly at longer wavelengths, while the position angle of the polarization remains at approximately 40° over the observed wavelength range. These polarimetric properties suggest that the observed polarization is likely predominantly caused by the interstellar dust within M82. Further analysis shows that the polarization peaks at a wavelengths much shorter than those obtained for the Galactic dust. The wavelength dependence of the polarization can be better described by an inverse power law rather than by the Serkowski law for Galactic interstellar polarization. These points suggest that the nature of the dust in M82 may be different from that in our Galaxy, with polarizing dust grains having a mean radius of <0.1 μm.

We report on the identification of a third, new ultraluminous X-ray source in the starburst galaxyM82. Previously, the source was observed at fluxes consistent with the high state of Galactic black hole binaries (BHBs). We observe fluxes up to (6.5 {+-} 0.3) x 10{sup 39} erg s{sup -1} in the ultraluminous regime. When the source is not in the low/hard state, spectral fitting using a multicolor disk model shows that the disk luminosity varies as the disk inner temperature raised to the power 4.8 {+-} 0.9, consistent with the behavior of Galactic BHBs in the thermal dominant state. Fitting the spectrum with a multicolor disk model with general relativistic corrections suggests that the source harbors a rapidly spinning black hole with a mass less than 100 solar masses. A soft excess was found in the source spectrum that could be blackbody emission from a photosphere created by a massive outflow. The source also showed soft dips during a flare.

Spectroscopic and photometric observations of the nearby Type Ia Supernova (SN Ia) SN 2014J are presented. Spectroscopic observations were taken -8 to +10 d relative to B-band maximum, using FRODOSpec, a multipurpose integral-field unit spectrograph. The observations range from 3900 to 9000 Å. SN 2014J is located in M82 which makes it the closest SN Ia studied in at least the last 28 yr. It is a spectroscopically normal SN Ia with high-velocity features. We model the spectra of SN 2014J with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, using the abundance tomography technique. SN 2014J is highly reddened, with a host galaxy extinction of E(B - V) = 1.2 (RV = 1.38). It has a Δm15(B) of 1.08 ± 0.03 when corrected for extinction. As SN 2014J is a normal SN Ia, the density structure of the classical W7 model was selected. The model and photometric luminosities are both consistent with B-band maximum occurring on JD 245 6690.4 ± 0.12. The abundance of the SN 2014J behaves like other normal SN Ia, with significant amounts of silicon (12 per cent by mass) and sulphur (9 per cent by mass) at high velocities (12 300 km s-1) and the low-velocity ejecta (v < 6500 km s-1) consists almost entirely of 56Ni.

We present and discuss the mean rest-frame ultraviolet spectrum for a sample of 81 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) selected to be B-band dropouts at z {approx_equal} 4. The sample is mostly drawn from our ongoing Keck/DEIMOS survey in the GOODS fields and augmented with archival Very Large Telescope data. In general, we find similar spectroscopic trends to those found in earlier surveys of LBGs at z = 3. Specifically, low-ionization absorption lines which trace neutral outflowing gas are weaker in galaxies with stronger Ly{alpha} emission, bluer UV spectral slopes, lower stellar masses, lower UV luminosities, and smaller half-light radii. This is consistent with a physical picture whereby star formation drives outflows of neutral gas which scatter Ly{alpha} and produce strong low-ionization absorption lines, while increasing galaxy stellar mass, size, metallicity, and dust content. Typical galaxies are thus expected to have stronger Ly{alpha} emission and weaker low-ionization absorption at earlier times, and we indeed find somewhat weaker low-ionization absorption at higher redshifts. In conjunction with earlier results from our survey, we argue that the reduced low-ionization absorption is likely caused by lower covering fraction and/or velocity range of outflowing neutral gas at earlier epochs. Although low-ionization absorption decreases at higher redshift, fine-structure emission lines are stronger, suggesting a greater concentration of neutral gas at small galactocentric radius ({approx}< 5 kpc). Our continuing survey will enable us to extend these diagnostics more reliably to higher redshift and determine the implications for the escape fraction of ionizing photons which governs the role of early galaxies in cosmic reionization.

We report the discovery with the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) CCD cameras onboard XMM-Newton of a 54 mHz quasiperiodic oscillation (QPO) in the greater than 2 keV X-ray flux from the ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) X41.4+60 in the starburst galaxyM82. This is the first detection of a QPO in the X-ray flux from an extra-Galactic ULX, and confirms that the source is a compact object. The QPO is detected in the combined PN and MOS data at the approx. 6sigma level, and separately at lower significances in both the PN and MOS instruments. It had a centroid frequency of 54.3 +/- 0.9 mHz, a coherence Q is identical with nu(sub 0)/Delta nu(sub fwhm) is approx. 5, and an amplitude (rms) in the 2 - 10 keV band of 8.5%. Below about 0.2 Hz the power spectrum can be described by a power-law with index approx. 1, and integrated amplitude (rms) of 13.5%. The X-ray spectrum requires a curving continuum, with a disk-blackbody (diskbb) at T = 3.1 keV providing an acceptable, but not unique, fit. A broad Fe line centered at 6.55 keV is required in all fits, but the equivalent width (EW) of the line is sensitive to the choice of continuum model. There is no evidence of a reflection component. The implied bolometric luminosity is approx. 4 - 5 x 10(exp 40) ergs/s. Data from several archival Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) pointings at M82 also show evidence for QPOs in the 50 - 100 mHz frequency range. Several Galactic black hole candidates (BHCs), including GRS 1915+105, GRO J1655-40, and XTE 1550-564, show QPOs in the same frequency range as the 50 - 100 mHz QPOs in X41.4+60, which at first glance suggests a possible connection with such objects. However, strong, narrow QPOs provide solid evidence for disk emission, and thus present enormous theoretical difficulties for models which rely on either geometrically or relativistically beamed emission to account for the high X-ray luminosities. We discuss the implications of our findings for models of the ULX sources.

The physical properties inferred from the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of z > 3 galaxies have been influential in shaping our understanding of early galaxy formation and the role galaxies may play in cosmic reionization. Of particular importance is the stellar mass density at early times, which represents the integral of earlier star formation. An important puzzle arising from the measurements so far reported is that the specific star formation rates (sSFRs) evolve far less rapidly than expected in most theoretical models. Yet the observations underpinning these results remain very uncertain, owing in part to the possible contamination of rest-optical broadband light from strong nebular emission lines. To quantify the contribution of nebular emission to broadband fluxes, we investigate the SEDs of 92 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies in the redshift range 3.8 < z < 5.0 chosen because the H{alpha} line lies within the Spitzer/IRAC 3.6 {mu}m filter. We demonstrate that the 3.6 {mu}m flux is systematically in excess of that expected from stellar continuum alone, which we derive by fitting the SED with population synthesis models. No such excess is seen in a control sample of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies with 3.1 < z < 3.6 in which there is no nebular contamination in the IRAC filters. From the distribution of our 3.6 {mu}m flux excesses, we derive an H{alpha} equivalent width distribution and consider the implications for both the derived stellar masses and the sSFR evolution. The mean rest-frame H{alpha} equivalent width we infer at 3.8 < z < 5.0 (270 A) indicates that nebular emission contributes at least 30% of the 3.6 {mu}m flux and, by implication, nebular emission is likely to have a much greater impact for galaxies with z {approx_equal} 6-7 where both warm IRAC filters are contaminated. Via our empirically derived equivalent width distribution, we correct the available stellar mass densities and show that the sSFR evolves more rapidly at z

Complications such as mechanical accidents, infections, and thrombosis are commonly described in the presence of a central venous catheter. We present a case of a boy who had fainting episodes due to dislocation of a central venous catheter. PMID:25853719

We have determined detailed radio spectra for 26 compact sources in the starburst nucleus of M82, between 74 and 1.3 cm. Seventeen show low-frequency turnovers. One other has a thermal emission spectrum, and we identify it as an H II region. The low-frequency turnovers result from absorption by interstellar thermal gas in M82. New information on the active galactic nucleus candidate 44.01+595 shows it to have a nonthermal falling power-law spectrum at the highest frequencies and that it is strongly absorbed below 2 GHz. We derive large magnetic fields in the supernova remnants of order (1-2)(1 + k)2/7φ-2/7 mG; hence, large pressures in the sources suggest that the brightest ones are either expanding or are strongly confined by a dense interstellar medium. From the largest source in our sample we derive a supernova rate of 0.016 yr-1.

The Herschel very wide field surveys have charted hundreds of square degrees in multiple far-IR (FIR) bands. While the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is currently the best resource for optical counterpart identifications over such wide areas, it does not detect a large number of Herschel FIR sources and leaves their nature undetermined. As a test case, we studied seven "SDSS-invisible," very bright 250 μm sources (S 250 > 55 mJy) in the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey fields where we have a rich multi-wavelength data set. We took a new approach to decompose the FIR sources, using the near-IR or the optical images directly for position priors. This is an improvement over the previous decomposition efforts where the priors are from mid-IR data that still suffer from the problem of source blending. We found that in most cases the single Herschel sources are made of multiple components that are not necessarily at the same redshifts. Our decomposition succeeded in identifying and extracting their major contributors. We show that these are all ultra-luminous infrared galaxies at z ~ 1-2 whose high L IR is mainly due to dust-obscured star formation. Most of them would not be selected as submillimeter galaxies. They all have complicated morphologies indicative of mergers or violent instability, and their stellar populations are heterogeneous in terms of stellar masses, ages, and formation histories. Their current ultra-luminous infrared galaxy phases are of various degrees of importance in their stellar mass assembly. Our practice provides a promising starting point for developing an automatic routine to reliably study bright Herschel sources.

The Herschel very wide field surveys have charted hundreds of square degrees in multiple far-IR (FIR) bands. While the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is currently the best resource for optical counterpart identifications over such wide areas, it does not detect a large number of Herschel FIR sources and leaves their nature undetermined. As a test case, we studied seven ''SDSS-invisible'', very bright 250 μm sources (S {sub 250} > 55 mJy) in the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey fields where we have a rich multi-wavelength data set. We took a new approach to decompose the FIR sources, using the near-IR or the optical images directly for position priors. This is an improvement over the previous decomposition efforts where the priors are from mid-IR data that still suffer from the problem of source blending. We found that in most cases the single Herschel sources are made of multiple components that are not necessarily at the same redshifts. Our decomposition succeeded in identifying and extracting their major contributors. We show that these are all ultra-luminous infrared galaxies at z ∼ 1-2 whose high L {sub IR} is mainly due to dust-obscured star formation. Most of them would not be selected as submillimeter galaxies. They all have complicated morphologies indicative of mergers or violent instability, and their stellar populations are heterogeneous in terms of stellar masses, ages, and formation histories. Their current ultra-luminous infrared galaxy phases are of various degrees of importance in their stellar mass assembly. Our practice provides a promising starting point for developing an automatic routine to reliably study bright Herschel sources.

We study the Lyα profiles of 36 spectroscopically detected Lyα-emitters (LAEs) at z ∼ 2-3, using Keck MOSFIRE to measure systemic redshifts and velocity dispersions from rest-frame optical nebular emission lines. The sample has a median optical magnitude R=26.0, and ranges from R≃23 to R>27, corresponding to rest-frame UV absolute magnitudes M {sub UV} ≅ –22 to M {sub UV} > –18.2. Dynamical masses range from M {sub dyn} < 1.3 × 10{sup 8} M {sub ☉} to M {sub dyn} = 6.8 × 10{sup 9} M {sub ☉}, with a median value of M {sub dyn} = 6.3 × 10{sup 8} M {sub ☉}. Thirty of the 36 Lyα emission lines are redshifted with respect to the systemic velocity with at least 1σ significance, and the velocity offset with respect to systemic Δv {sub Lyα} is correlated with the R-band magnitude, M {sub UV}, and the velocity dispersion measured from nebular emission lines with >3σ significance: brighter galaxies with larger velocity dispersions tend to have larger values of Δv {sub Lyα}. We also make use of a comparison sample of 122 UV-color-selected R<25.5 galaxies at z ∼ 2, all with Lyα emission and systemic redshifts measured from nebular emission lines. Using the combined LAE and comparison samples for a total of 158 individual galaxies, we find that Δv {sub Lyα} is anti-correlated with the Lyα equivalent width with 7σ significance. Our results are consistent with a scenario in which the Lyα profile is determined primarily by the properties of the gas near the systemic redshift; in such a scenario, the opacity to Lyα photons in lower mass galaxies may be reduced if large gaseous disks have not yet developed and if the gas is ionized by the harder spectrum of young, low metallicity stars.

We study the Lyα profiles of 36 spectroscopically detected Lyα-emitters (LAEs) at z ~ 2-3, using Keck MOSFIRE to measure systemic redshifts and velocity dispersions from rest-frame optical nebular emission lines. The sample has a median optical magnitude R}=26.0, and ranges from R}≃ 23 to R}\\gt27, corresponding to rest-frame UV absolute magnitudes M UV ~= -22 to M UV > -18.2. Dynamical masses range from M dyn < 1.3 × 108 M ⊙ to M dyn = 6.8 × 109 M ⊙, with a median value of M dyn = 6.3 × 108 M ⊙. Thirty of the 36 Lyα emission lines are redshifted with respect to the systemic velocity with at least 1σ significance, and the velocity offset with respect to systemic Δv Lyα is correlated with the R}-band magnitude, M UV, and the velocity dispersion measured from nebular emission lines with >3σ significance: brighter galaxies with larger velocity dispersions tend to have larger values of Δv Lyα. We also make use of a comparison sample of 122 UV-color-selected R}<25.5 galaxies at z ~ 2, all with Lyα emission and systemic redshifts measured from nebular emission lines. Using the combined LAE and comparison samples for a total of 158 individual galaxies, we find that Δv Lyα is anti-correlated with the Lyα equivalent width with 7σ significance. Our results are consistent with a scenario in which the Lyα profile is determined primarily by the properties of the gas near the systemic redshift; in such a scenario, the opacity to Lyα photons in lower mass galaxies may be reduced if large gaseous disks have not yet developed and if the gas is ionized by the harder spectrum of young, low metallicity stars. Based on data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

Normal galaxies, radio galaxies, and Seyfert galaxies are considered. The large magellanic cloud and the great galaxy in Andromedia are highlighted. Quasars and BL lacertae objects are also discussed and a review of the spectral observations of all of these galaxies and celestial objects is presented.

Using 400 days of new X-ray monitoring of M82, we confirm the 62 day periodicity previously reported. In the full data set spanning 1124 days, we find a period of 62.0+/-0.3 days and a coherence, Q=22.3, that is consistent with a strictly periodic signal. We estimate that the probability of chance occurrence of our observed signal is 6×10-7. The light curve folded at this period is roughly sinusoidal and has a peak-to-peak amplitude of (0.99+/-0.10)×10-11 erg cm-2 s-1. Confirmation of the periodicity strengthens our previous suggestion that the 62 day modulation is due to orbital motion within an X-ray binary.

Periodic pulsations have been found in emission from the ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-2, strongly suggesting that the emitter is a rotating neutron star rather than a black hole. However, the radiation mechanisms and accretion mode involved have not yet been clearly established. In this paper, we examine the applicability to this object of standard accretion modes for high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). We find that spherical wind accretion, which drives OB-type HMXBs, cannot apply here but that there is a natural explanation in terms of an extension of the picture for standard Be-type HMXBs. We show that a neutron star with a moderately strong magnetic field, accreting from a disc-shaped wind emitted by a Be-companion, could be compatible with the observed relation between spin and orbital period. A Roche lobe overflow picture is also possible under certain conditions.

We present a three-pointing study of the molecular gas in the starburst nucleus of M82 based on 190-307 GHz spectra obtained with Z-Spec at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. We present intensity measurements, detections, and upper limits, for 20 transitions, including several new detections of CS, HNC, C{sub 2}H, H{sub 2}CO, and CH{sub 3}CCH lines. We combine our measurements with previously published measurements at other frequencies for HCN, HNC, CS, C{sup 34}S, and HCO{sup +} in a multi-species likelihood analysis constraining gas mass, density and temperature, and the species' relative abundances. We find some (1.7-2.7) x 10{sup 8} M{sub sun} of gas with n{sub H{sub 2}} between (1-6) x 10{sup 4} cm{sup -3} and T > 50 K. While the mass and temperature are comparable to values inferred from mid-J CO transitions, the thermal pressure is a factor of 10-20 greater. The molecular interstellar medium is largely fragmented and is subject to ultraviolet irradiation from the star clusters. It is also likely subject to cosmic rays and mechanical energy input from the supernovae, and is warmer on average than the molecular gas in the massive star formation (SF) regions in the Milky Way. The typical conditions in the dense gas in M82's central kiloparsec appear unfavorable for further SF; if any appreciable stellar populations are currently forming, they are likely biased against low-mass stars, producing a top-heavy initial mass function.

Driven by the recent detection of an unidentified emission line previously reported at 3.55-3.57 keV in a stacked spectrum of galaxy clusters, we investigate the resonant DR process in Li-like Ar as a possible source of or contributor to the emission line. We are particularly interested in the Li-like transition 1 s22l-1s2l3l', which produces a 3.62 keV photon near the unidentified line at 3.57 keV. The Electron Beam Ion Trap at NIST was used to produce and trap the highly-charged ions of argon. The energy of the quasi-monoenergetic electron beam, set to a current of 60 mA, was incremented in steps of 15 eV to scan over all of the Li-like Ar DR resonances, including the resonance peak of interest. A solid-state germanium detector was used to take x-ray measurements perpendicular to the trap region. The DR cross section was measured and normalized to the well-known photoionization cross sections using radiative recombination peaks in the measured spectra. Our measurements are compared to the AtomDB emission lines used to fit the spectra containing the unidentified line, and conclusions are presented.

We report observations of the bright M82 supernova 2014J serendipitously obtained with the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT). The supernova (SN) was observed at high cadence for over 100 days, from pre-explosion, to early rise and peak times, through the secondary bump. The high cadence KELT data with high signal-to-noise ratio is completely unique for SN 2014J and for any other SNIa, with the exception of the (yet) unpublished Kepler data. Here, we report determinations of the SN explosion time and peak time. We also report measures of the ''smoothness'' of the light curve on timescales of minutes/hours never before probed, and we use this to place limits on energy produced from short-lived isotopes or inhomogeneities in the explosion or the circumstellar medium. From the non-observation of significant perturbations of the light curves, we derive a 3σ upper limit corresponding to 8.7 × 10{sup 36} erg s{sup –1} for any such extra sources of luminosity at optical wavelengths.

Researchers observed CO(7-6), CO(3-2), HCN(3-2) and HCO+(3-2) line emission toward the starburst nucleus of M82 and have obtained an upper limit to H13CN(3-2). These are the first observations of the CO(7-6), HCN(3-2) and HCO+(3-2) lines in any extragalactic source. Researchers took the CO(7-6) spectrum in January 1988 at the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) with the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics/Univ. of California, Berkeley 800 GHz Heterodyne Receiver. In March 1989 researchers used the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter range (IRAM) 30 m telescope to observe the CO(3-2) line with the new MPE 350 GHz Superconductor Insulator Superconductor (SIS) receiver and the HCN(3-2) and HCO+(3-2) lines with the (IRAM) 230 GHz SIS receiver (beam 12" FWHM, Blundell et al. 1988). The observational parameters are summarized.

We present optical, near-infrared, and Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations of the host galaxy of the dark Swift gamma-ray burst GRB 080207. The host is faint, with extremely red optical-infrared colors (R - K = 6.3, 24 {mu}m/R-band flux {approx}1000) making it an extremely red object (ERO) and a dust-obscured galaxy (DOG). The spectral energy distribution (SED) shows the clear signature of the 1.6 {mu}m photometric 'bump', typical of evolved stellar populations. We use this bump to establish the photometric redshift z{sub phot} as 2.2{sup +0.2}{sub -0.3}, using a vast library of SED templates, including M82. The star formation rate (SFR) inferred from the SED fitting is {approx}119 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1}, the stellar mass 3 x 10{sup 11} M{sub sun}, and A{sub V} extinction from 1 to 2 mag. The ERO and DOG nature of the host galaxy of the dark GRB 080207 may be emblematic of a distinct class of dark GRB hosts, with high SFRs, evolved and metal-rich stellar populations, and significant dust extinction within the host galaxy.

With AKARI, we obtain the spatially resolved near-infrared (NIR) (2.5-5.0 {mu}m) spectra for the nearby starburst galaxyM82. These spectra clearly show absorption features due to interstellar ices. Based on the spectra, we created the column density maps of H{sub 2}O and CO{sub 2} ices. As a result, we find that the spatial distribution of H{sub 2}O ice is significantly different from that of CO{sub 2} ice; H{sub 2}O ice is widely distributed, while CO{sub 2} ice is concentrated near the galactic center. Our result reveals for the first time variations in CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ice abundance ratio on a galactic scale, suggesting that an ice-forming interstellar environment changes within a galaxy. We discuss the cause of the spatial variations in the ice abundance ratio, utilizing spectral information on the hydrogen recombination Br{alpha} and Br{beta} lines and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon 3.3 {mu}m emission appearing in the AKARI NIR spectra.

We have analyzed the archival XMM-Newton data of the archetypal Ultra-Luminous X-ray Source (ULX) M82 X-1 with an LO5 ksec exposure when the source was in the steady state. Thanks to the high photon statistics from the large effective area and long exposure, we were able to discriminate different X-ray continuum spectral models. Neither the standard accretion disk model (where the radial dependency of the disk effective temperature is T(r) proportional to r(sup -3/4)) nor a power-law model gives a satisfactory fit. In fact, observed curvature of the M82 X-1 spectrum was just between those of the two models. When the exponent of the radial dependence (p in T(r) proportional to r(sup -P)) of the disk temperature is allowed to be free, we obtained p = 0.61 (sup +0.03)(sub -0.02). Such a reduction of p from the standard value 3/4 under extremely high mass accretion rates is predicted from the accretion disk theory as a consequence of the radial energy advection. Thus, the accretion disk in M82 X-1 is considered to be in the Slim disk state, where an optically thick Advection Dominant Accretion Flow (ADAF) is taking place. We have applied a theoretical slim disk spectral model to M82 X-1, and estimated the black hole mass approximately equal to 19 - 32 solar mass. We conclude that M82 X-1 is a stellar black hole which has been produced through evolution of an extremely massive star, shining at a several times the super-Eddington luminosity.

Left A NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a randomly selected area of sky taken to search for faint red stars that might constitute dark matter in our Milky Way Galaxy. (Dark matter is material of an unknown type that makes up most of the mass of our galaxy). If the dark matter in our Galaxy was made of faint red stars -- as many scientists have previously conjectured -- then about 38 such stars should have been visible in this HST image. The simulated stars (diamond-shaped symbols), based on theoretical calculations, illustrate what scientists would have seen if the dark matter were locked-up in faint red stars. These surprising results rule out dim stars as an explanation for dark matter in our Galaxy. Right The unmodified HST image shows the region is actually so devoid of stars that far more distant background galaxies can easily be seen. The field is in the constellation Eridanus, far outside the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. This region was chosen to highlight stars in the galactic halo, where dark matter exists, and to avoid the contribution of faint stars in the plane of the Galaxy. Technical Information: The image was constructed from seven exposures totaling almost three hours of searching by HST. The field shown is about 1.5 arc-minutes across. The image was taken in near-infrared light (814 nm) with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, on Feb 8, 1994. This observation is part of the HST parallel observing program. Credit: J Bahcall, Institute for Advance Study, Princeton and NASA

The Andromeda galaxy is the closest SPIRAL GALAXY to the MILKY WAY, just visible to the naked eye on a dark night as a faint smudge of light in the constellation Andromeda. The earliest records of the Andromeda nebula, as it is still often referred to, date back to AD 964, to the `Book of the Fixed Stars' published by the Persian astronomer AL-SÛFI. The first European to officially note the Andro...

will describe PMAS (Potsdam Multiaperture Spectrophotometer) which was commissioned at the Calar Alto Observatory 3.5m Telescope on May 28-31, 2001. PMAS is a dedicated, highly efficient UV-visual integral field spectrograph which is optimized for the spectrophotometry of faint point sources, typically superimposed on a bright background. PMAS is ideally suited for the study of resolved stars in local group galaxies. I will present results of our preliminary work with MPFS at the Russian 6m Telescope in Selentchuk, involving the development of new 3D data reduction software, and observations of faint planetary nebulae in the bulge of M31 for the determination of individual chemical abundances of these objects. Using this data, it will be demonstrated that integral field spectroscopy provides superior techniques for background subtraction, avoiding the otherwise inevitable systematic errors of conventional slit spetroscopy. The results will be put in perspective of the study of resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies with a new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes.

For cosmic shear to become an accurate cosmological probe, systematic errors in the shear measurement method must be unambiguously identified and corrected for. Previous work of this series has demonstrated that cosmic shears can be measured accurately in Fourier space in the presence of background noise and finite pixel size, without assumptions on the morphologies of galaxy and PSF. The remaining major source of error is source Poisson noise, due to the finiteness of source photon number. This problem is particularly important for faintgalaxies in space-based weak lensing measurements, and for ground-based images of short exposure times. In this work, we propose a simple and rigorous way of removing the shear bias from the source Poisson noise. Our noise treatment can be generalized for images made of multiple exposures through MultiDrizzle. This is demonstrated with the SDSS and COSMOS/ACS data. With a large ensemble of mock galaxy images of unrestricted morphologies, we show that our shear measurement method can achieve sub-percent level accuracy even for images of signal-to-noise ratio less than 5 in general, making it the most promising technique for cosmic shear measurement in the ongoing and upcoming large scale galaxy surveys.

We present HST/STIS optical and Gemini/NIFS near-IR IFU spectroscopy and archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of the triplet of super star clusters (A1, A2, and A3) in the core of the M82 starburst. Using model fits to the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) spectra and the weakness of red supergiant CO absorption features (appearing at ∼6 Myr) in the NIFS H-band spectra, the ages of A2 and A3 are 4.5 ± 1.0 Myr. A1 has strong CO bands, consistent with our previously determined age of 6.4 ± 0.5 Myr. The photometric masses of the three clusters are 4-7 × 10{sup 5} M{sub ☉}, and their sizes are R{sub eff} = 159, 104, 59 mas (∼2.8, 1.8, 1.0 pc) for A1, A2, and A3. The STIS spectra yielded radial velocities of 320 ± 2, 330 ± 6, and 336 ± 5 km s{sup –1} for A1, A2, and A3, placing them at the eastern end of the x{sub 2} orbits of M82's bar. Clusters A2 and A3 are in high-density (800-1000 cm{sup –3}) environments, and like A1, are surrounded by compact H II regions. We suggest the winds from A2 and A3 have stalled, as in A1, due to the high ISM ambient pressure. We propose that the three clusters were formed in situ on the outer x{sub 2} orbits in regions of dense molecular gas subsequently ionized by the rapidly evolving starburst. The similar radial velocities of the three clusters and their small projected separation of ∼25 pc suggest that they may merge in the near future unless this is prevented by velocity shearing.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a model organism for Solanaceae in both molecular and agronomic research. This project utilized Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation and the transposon-tagging construct Activator (Ac)/Dissociator (Ds)-ATag-Bar_gosGFP to produce activation-tagged and knockout mutants in the processing tomato cultivar M82. The construct carried hygromycin resistance (hyg), green fluorescent protein (GFP), and the transposase (TPase) of maize (Zea mays) Activator major transcript X054214.1 on the stable Ac element, along with a 35S enhancer tetramer and glufosinate herbicide resistance (BAR) on the mobile Ds-ATag element. An in vitro propagation strategy was used to produce a population of 25 T0 plants from a single transformed plant regenerated in tissue culture. A T1 population of 11,000 selfed and cv M82 backcrossed progeny was produced from the functional T0 line. This population was screened using glufosinate herbicide, hygromycin leaf painting, and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Insertion sites of transposed Ds-ATag elements were identified through thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR, and resulting product sequences were aligned to the recently published tomato genome. A population of 509 independent, Ds-only transposant lines spanning all 12 tomato chromosomes has been developed. Insertion site analysis demonstrated that more than 80% of these lines harbored Ds insertions conducive to activation tagging. The capacity of the Ds-ATag element to alter transcription was verified by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR in two mutant lines. The transposon-tagged lines have been immortalized in seed stocks and can be accessed through an online database, providing a unique resource for tomato breeding and analysis of gene function in the background of a commercial tomato cultivar. PMID:23569107

We present optical HST STIS observations made with two slits crossing four of the optically brightest starburst clumps near the nucleus of M82. These provide Hα kinematics, extinction, electron density, and emission measures. From the radial velocity curves derived from both slits we confirm the presence of a stellar bar. We derive a new model for the orientation of the bar and disk with respect to the main starburst clumps and the cluster M82-A1. We propose that clump A has formed within the bar region as a result of gas interactions between the bar orbits, whereas region C lies at the edge of the bar and regions D and E are located farther out from the nucleus but heavily obscured. We derive extremely high interstellar densities of 500-900 cm-3, corresponding to ISM pressures of P/k~(0.5-1.0)×107 cm-3 K, and discuss the implications of the measured gas properties on the production and evolution of the galactic wind. Despite varying pressures, the ionization parameter is uniform down to parsec scales, and we discuss why this might be so. Where the signal-to-noise ratios of our spectra are high enough, we identify multiple emission-line components. Through detailed Gaussian line fitting, we identify a ubiquitous broad (200-300 km s-1) underlying component to the bright Hα line and discuss the physical mechanism(s) that could be responsible for such widths. We conclude that evaporation and/or ablation of material from interstellar gas clouds caused by the impact of high-energy photons and fast flowing cluster winds produce a highly turbulent layer on the surface of the clouds from which the emission arises. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. These observations are associated with program 9117.

The infrared properties of star-forming galaxies, primarily as determined by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS), are compared to X-ray, optical, and radio properties. Luminosity functions are reviewed and combined with those derived from optically discovered samples using 487 Markarian galaxies with redshifts and published IRAS 60 micron fluxes, and 1074 such galaxies in the Center for Astrophysics redshift survey. It is found that the majority of infrared galaxies which could be detected are low luminosity sources already known from the optical samples, but non-infrared surveys have found only a very small fraction of the highest luminosity sources. Distributions of infrared to optical fluxes and available spectra indicate that the majority of IRAS-selected galaxies are starburst galaxies. Having a census of starburst galaxies and associated dust allow severl important global calculations. The source counts are predicted as a function of flux limits for both infrared and radio fluxes. These galaxies are found to be important radio sources at faint flux limits. Taking the integrated flux to z = 3 indicates that such galaxies are a significant component of the diffuse X-ray background, and could be the the dominant component depending on the nature of the X-ray spectra and source evolution.

An analysis has been made for solar motion for 128 very faint white dwarfs of color class b or a. While about 40% of these stars may be high-velocity objects, it seems definitely indicated that the luminosity of all of them is considerably lower than that for the "normal" white dwarf of the same color. PMID:16592566

We have combined HST grism spectroscopy and deep broadband imaging to measure spectro-photometric redshifts (SPZs) of faintgalaxies. Using a technique pioneered by Ryan et al. 2007, one can combine spectra and photometry to yield an SPZ that is more accurate than pure photometric redshifts, and can probe more deeply than ground-based spectroscopic redshifts. By taking mid-resolution spectra from the HST Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS), SPZs can be found for measurements potentially down to 27th magnitude (the typical brightness of a dwarf galaxy at redshift ∼1.5). A galaxy’s redshift is vital for understanding its place in the growth and evolution of the universe. The measurement of high-accuracy SPZs for FIGS sources will improve the faint-end and high-redshift portions of the luminosity function, and make possible a robust analysis of the FIGS fields for signs of Large Scale Structure (LSS). The improved redshift and distance measurements allowed for the identification of a structure at z=0.83 in one of the FIGS fields.

The Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2014J in M82 (d ≈ 3.5 Mpc) was serendipitously discovered by S. Fossey's group on 2014 January 21 UT and has been confirmed to be the nearest known SN Ia since at least SN 1986G. Although SN 2014J was not discovered until ∼7 days after first light, both the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope at Lick Observatory and K. Itagaki obtained several prediscovery observations of SN 2014J. With these data, we are able to constrain the object's time of first light to be January 14.75 UT, only 0.82 ± 0.21 days before our first detection. Interestingly, we find that the light curve is well described by a varying power law, much like SN 2013dy, which makes SN 2014J the second example of a changing power law in early-time SN Ia light curves. A low-resolution spectrum taken on January 23.388 UT, ∼8.70 days after first light, shows that SN 2014J is a heavily reddened but otherwise spectroscopically normal SN Ia.

The Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) designed for use with The Space Telescope (ST), is currently preparing for instrument assembly, integration, alignment, and calibration. Nearly all optical and detector elements have been completed and calibrated, and selection of flight detectors and all but a few optical elements has been made. Calibration results for the flight detectors and optics are presented, and plans for forthcoming system calibration are briefly described.

... kids: drink plenty of fluids, especially in hot weather or during physical activity take frequent breaks and move around as much as possible when sitting or standing for long periods of time slowly breathe into a paper bag ... Foundation, iStock, Getty Images, Corbis, Veer, Science Photo Library, Science Source Images, Shutterstock, and Clipart. ...

... decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. FreeMD.com is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of ...

... severely dehydrated ) Standing up very suddenly from a lying position Less common but more serious reasons for ... avoid or change them. Get up from a lying or seated position slowly. If having blood drawn ...

We use counts of faintgalaxies in the regions of compact groups to extend the study of the luminosity function of galaxies in compact groups to absolute magnitudes as faint as M(sub B) = -14.5 + 5 log h. We find a slope of the faint end of the luminosity function of approximately alpha = -0.8, with a formal uncertainty of 0.15. This slope is not significantly different from that found for galaxies in other environments. Our results do not support previous suggestions of a dramatic underabundance of intrinsically faintgalaxies in compact groups, which were based on extrapolations from fits at brighter magnitudes. The normal faint-end slope of the luminosity function in compact groups is in agreement with previous evidence that most galaxies in compact groups have not been dramatically affected by recent merging.

In 240 days of X-ray monitoring of M82, we have discovered an X-ray periodicity at 62.0+/-2.5 days with a peak-to-peak amplitude corresponding to an isotropic luminosity of 2.4×1040 ergs s-1 in M82 and an X-ray flare reaching a peak luminosity of 9.8×1040 ergs s-1. The periodicity and flare likely originate from the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in M82, which has been identified as a possible intermediate-mass black hole. We suggest that the 62 day modulation is due to orbital motion within an X-ray binary with a Roche lobe overflowing companion star, which would imply that the average density of the companion star is near 5×10-5 g cm-3 and is therefore a giant or supergiant. Chandra observations just after the flare show an energy spectrum that is consistent with a power law with no evidence of a thermal component or line emission. Radio observations made with the VLA during the flare allow us to rule out a blazar identification for the source and place strong constraints on relativistically beamed models of the X-ray emission. The Chandra observations reveal that a second X-ray source reached a flux of 4.4×10-12 ergs cm-2 s-1 in the 0.3-7 keV band, which is dramatically higher than any flux previously seen from this source and corresponds to an isotropic luminosity of 1.1×1040 ergs s-1. This source is a second ultraluminous X-ray source in M82 and may give rise to the QPOs detected from the central region of M82.

We perform detailed surface photometry, based on B- and/or R-band CCD images of 92 faintgalaxies. They are a subsample of those galaxies which were studied by Hopp et al. (1994) in the direction of three nearby voids. We derive integral photometric parameters and radial surface brightness profiles and compare them to those of several faintgalaxy samples, located in different environments, and of a bright field galaxy sample. According to the obtained photometric characteristics, our sample is a mixture of intrinsically bright and faintgalaxies, about 60% of them belonging to the bright subsample (MBfaint subsample (MB>=-19.0) has parameters typical for the low-surface-brightness (LSB) galaxies. There are a few well isolated galaxies both among the bright and faint subsamples. (4 data files).

High-resolution (15 inch), filled aperture maps of the CO (J = 1-0) line emission were obtained for several nearby, CO-bright galaxies like M82, M83, IC342, and NGC891 in order to study star forming activity in these galaxies.

Driven by the recent detection of an unidentified emission line previously reported at 3.55-3.57 keV in a stacked spectrum of galaxy clusters, we investigated the resonant DR process in Li-like Ar as a possible source of, or contributor to, the emission line. The Li-like transition 1s22l-1s2l3l’ was suggested to produce a 3.62 keV photon [1] near the unidentified line at 3.57 keV and was the primary focus of our investigation. Apart from the mentioned transitions, we have found other features that can be possible contributors to the emission in this region. The Electron Beam Ion Trap at NIST was used to produce and trap the highly-charged ions of argon. The energy of the quasi-monoenergetic electron beam was incremented in steps of 15 eV to scan over all of the Li-like Ar DR resonances. A Johann-type crystal spectrometer and a solid-state germanium detector were used to take x-ray measurements perpendicular to the electron beam. The DR cross sections were measured and normalized to the well-known photoionization cross sections using radiative recombination peaks in the measured spectra. Corrections for different instrument and method related effects such as charge state balance, electron beam space charge, and charge exchange have been considered. Our high-resolution crystal spectra allowed the experimental separation of features that are less than 2 eV apart. We have used a collisional radiative model NOMAD [2] aided by atomic data calculations by FAC [3] to interpret our observations and account for the corrections and uncertainties. Experimental results were compared to the AtomDB theoretical emission lines used to fit the galaxy cluster spectra containing the unidentified 3.57 keV line. These data points can be added benchmarks in the database and used to accurately interpret spectra from current x-ray satellites, including Hitomi, Chandra, and XMM-Newton x-ray observatories.[1] Bulbul E. et al., 2014, ApJ, 789, 13[2] Ralchenko Yu. et al., 2014, JQSRT, 71

We report the discovery of two new Milky Way satellites in the neighboring constellations of Pisces and Pegasus identified in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Pisces II, an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy lies at the distance of ~180 kpc, some 15° away from the recently detected Pisces I. Segue 3, an ultra-faint star cluster lies at the distance of 16 kpc. We use deep follow-up imaging obtained with the 4-m Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory to derive their structural parameters. Pisces II has a half-light radius of ~60 pc, while Segue 3 is 20 times smaller at only 3 pc.

Using all the archival XMM-Newton X-ray (3-10 keV) observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-1 we searched for a correlation between its variable mHz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) frequency and its energy spectral power-law index. These quantities are known to correlate in stellar mass black holes (StMBHs) exhibiting Type-C QPOs (approx 0.2-15 Hz). The detection of such a correlation would strengthen the identification of its mHz QPOs as Type-C and enable a more reliable mass estimate by scaling its QPO frequencies to those of Type-C QPOs in StMBHs of known mass. We resolved the count rates of M82 X-1 and a nearby bright ULX (source 5/X42.3+59) through surface brightness modeling and identify observations in which M82 X-1 was at least as bright as source 5. Using only those observations, we detect QPOs in the frequency range of 36-210 mHz during which the energy spectral power-law index varied from 1.7-2.2. Interestingly, we find evidence for an anti-correlation (Pearsons correlation coefficient = -0.95) between the power-law index and the QPO centroid frequency. While such an anti-correlation is observed in StMBHs at high Type-C QPO frequencies (approx 5-15 Hz), the frequency range over which it holds in StMBHs is significantly smaller (factor of approx 1.5-3) than the QPO range reported here from M82 X-1 (factor of 6). However, it remains possible that contamination from source 5 can bias our result. Joint Chandra/XMM-Newton observations in the future can resolve this problem and confirm the timing-spectral anti-correlation reported here.

High signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra of 17 infrared-bright emission-line galaxies near the north ecliptic pole are presented. Reddening-corrected line ratios forbidden O III 5007/H-beta, N II 6583/H-alpha, S II (6716 + 6731)/H-alpha, and O I 6300/H-alpha are used to discriminate between candidate energy generation mechanisms in each galaxy. These criteria have frequently been applied to optically selected samples of galaxies in the past, but this is the first time they have been applied to a set of faint flux-limited infrared-selected objects. The analysis indicates the sample contains seven starburst galaxies and three (AGN). However, seven galaxies in the present sample elude the classification scheme based on these line ratios. It is concluded that a two-component (starburst plus AGN) model for energy generation is inadequate for infrared galaxies.

The relationship between angular size, magnitude, and redshift of faintgalaxies is explored as a potential tool to distinguish between galaxy evolutionary models. Different models, based on merging, mild luminosity evolution, and no evolution, lead to different predictions of the angular size distribution, redshift- size relation, and magnitude-size relation. The merging model predicts significantly smaller sizes for faintgalaxies than the standard model, because of the requirement for more intrinsically small faint objects at high redshift. A dwarf-rich no-evolution model also predicts small sizes for faintgalaxies. The mild luminosity evolution model predicts more luminous galaxies of large angular size at high redshift, as does a standard no-evolution model. Prefurbishment Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Medium Deep Survey observations of magnitudes and sizes of faintgalaxies indicate an excess of small versus large faintgalaxies, favoring the dwarf rich, no evolution model with respect to the merging model; the other two models are more discrepant with the data. While these results cannot yet rule out with certainty any of the proposed models, they demonstrate the potential of angular size to discriminate between models of galaxy evolution, especially with the high-resolution HST wide field/planetary camera-2 (WFPC2) data.

This image of the spiral galaxy Messier 83 was taken by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer on June 7, 2003. Located 15 million light years from Earth and known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, Messier 83 displays significant amounts of ultraviolet emissions far from the optically bright portion of the galaxy. It is also known to have an extended hydrogen disc that appears to radiate a faint ultraviolet emission. The red stars in the foreground of the image are Milky Way stars.

The Galaxy Evolution Explorer mission is led by the California Institute of Technology, which is also responsible for the science operations and data analysis. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of Caltech, manages the mission and built the science instrument. The mission was developed under NASA's Explorers Program, managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The mission's international partners include South Korea and France.

The Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS) team have surveyed seven square degrees of sky at 1.4GHz. During processing some unexpected infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS sources) were discovered. The nature of these sources is not understood, but it is possible that some of these sources may be pulsars within our own galaxy. We propose to observe the IFRS sources with steep spectral indices using standard search techniques to determine whether or not they are pulsars. A pulsar detection would 1) remove a subset of the IFRS sources from the ATLAS sample so they would not need to be observed with large optical/IR telescopes to find their hosts and 2) be intrinsically interesting as the pulsar would be a millisecond pulsar and/or have an extreme spatial velocity.

Four quasars with redshifts z = 0.6185, 0.6267, 0.850, and 1.665 have been found in the central 33.4 arcmin square of the field at 22h.05, -18deg.91 surveyed by Savage and Bolton (1979) and Krug et al. (1980). The first two quasars are separated by 6.8 arcmin and may be associated with groups of faintgalaxies. The separation is well within the 20 Mpc or larger dimensions suggested by Oort et al. (1981) for superclusters, and the velocity difference is not unusual if the velocity dispersion is near the upper end of the range of 300-600 km/s

Spitzer UltRa Faint SUrvey Program is a joint Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescope Exploration Science program using 10 galaxy clusters as cosmic telescopes to study z ≳ 7 galaxies at intrinsically lower luminosities, enabled by gravitational lensing, than blank field surveys of the same exposure time. Our main goal is to measure stellar masses and ages of these galaxies, which are the most likely sources of the ionizing photons that drive reionization. Accurate knowledge of the star formation density and star formation history at this epoch is necessary to determine whether these galaxies indeed reionized the universe. Determination of the stellar masses and ages requires measuring rest-frame optical light, which only Spitzer can probe for sources at z ≳ 7, for a large enough sample of typical galaxies. Our program consists of 550 hr of Spitzer/IRAC imaging covering 10 galaxy clusters with very well-known mass distributions, making them extremely precise cosmic telescopes. We combine our data with archival observations to obtain mosaics with ∼30 hr exposure time in both 3.6 μm and 4.5 μm in the central 4' × 4' field and ∼15 hr in the flanking fields. This results in 3σ sensitivity limits of ∼26.6 and ∼26.2 AB magnitudes for the central field in the IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 μm bands, respectively. To illustrate the survey strategy and characteristics we introduce the sample, present the details of the data reduction and demonstrate that these data are sufficient for in-depth studies of z ≳ 7 sources (using a z = 9.5 galaxy behind MACS J1149.5+2223 as an example). For the first cluster of the survey (the Bullet Cluster) we have released all high-level data mosaics and IRAC empirical point-spread function models. In the future we plan to release these data products for the entire survey.

Context. Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are objects that have flux densities of several mJy at 1.4 GHz, but that are invisible at 3.6 μm when using sensitive Spitzer observations with μJy sensitivities. Their nature is unclear and difficult to investigate since they are only visible in the radio. Aims: High-resolution radio images and comprehensive spectral coverage can yield constraints on the emission mechanisms of IFRS and can give hints to similarities with known objects. Methods: We imaged a sample of 17 IFRS at 4.8 GHz and 8.6 GHz with the Australia Telescope Compact Array to determine the structures on arcsecond scales. We added radio data from other observing projects and from the literature to obtain broad-band radio spectra. Results: We find that the sources in our sample are either resolved out at the higher frequencies or are compact at resolutions of a few arcsec, which implies that they are smaller than a typical galaxy. The spectra of IFRS are remarkably steep, with a median spectral index of -1.4 and a prominent lack of spectral indices larger than -0.7. We also find that, given the IR non-detections, the ratio of 1.4 GHz flux density to 3.6 μm flux density is very high, and this puts them into the same regime as high-redshift radio galaxies. Conclusions: The evidence that IFRS are predominantly high-redshift sources driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) is strong, even though not all IFRS may be caused by the same phenomenon. Compared to the rare and painstakingly collected high-redshift radio galaxies, IFRS appear to be much more abundant, but less luminous, AGN-driven galaxies at similar cosmological distances.

We have analyzed all archival XMM-Newton observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-1 in order to search for a correlation between its mHz quasiperiodic oscillation (QPO) frequency and energy spectral power-law index. These quantities are known to correlate in stellar mass black holes (StMBHs) exhibiting so-called Type-C QPOs. The detection of a similar relation in M82 X-1 would strengthen the identification of its mHz QPOs as Type-C and thus enable more reliable mass estimates by scaling of the QPO frequencies in X-1 to those of Type-C QPOs in StMBHs of known mass. We used surface brightness modeling to estimate the count rates produced by X-1 and a nearby (5'') bright source that can contribute substantial flux in XMM-Newton's 15'' (HPD) beam. We thus identify the observations in which M82 X-1 is at least as bright as the nearby source. In these observations we detect mHz QPOs with centroid frequencies spanning the range from 36 mHz to 210 mHz (the lowest and the highest yet reported from X-1). We model the 3-10 keV spectrum and find that the power-law index changes significantly from 1.7 - 2.2 during these observations. With all observations included we find evidence for an anti-correlation between the centroid frequency of the mHz QPOs and the power-law index. The value of the Pearson's correlation coefficient is -0.95. While such an anti-correlation is observed in StMBHs at high Type-C QPO frequencies (5-15 Hz), the frequency range over which it holds in StMBHs is significantly smaller (factor of 1-3) than the QPO range now reported here for X-1, which varies over a factor of 5.8 (36-210 mHz). However, we note that the correlation hinges on the observation with the lowest inferred energy spectral index and for which the fitted count rate ratio of X-1 to the nearby source is 1.1. So the implied anti-correlation needs to be confirmed with either less ``contaminated" observations or higher angular resolution spectral measurements made in tandem

We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to search for faint radio sources in a ~3deg2 region of sky covered by the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS, Cat. ). Over the region surveyed, the 1{sigma} noise level at 1.4GHz ranges from 20Jy to 1mJy. The survey region includes 365 2dFGRS galaxies, of which 316 have good-quality spectra (176 early-type galaxies or active galactic nuclei, and 140 star-forming galaxies). The fraction of 2dFGRS galaxies detected as radio sources in our survey rises from ~4% at a 3{sigma} detection limit of 0.3mJy to 12% at 75{mu}Jy, with roughly equal numbers of star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) being detected. (2 data files).

The spectra of selected H II regions in the center of the starburst galaxy NGC 1808 and of many faintgalaxies surrounding the NGC 1808 were obtained simultaneously, using the Optopus fiber-optics spectrograph facility (described by Lund, 1986) at the ESO 3.6-m telescope. The preparation of Optopus plates (each of which employed more than 40 fibers), observations, and the procedures of data processing and Optopus calibration are described together with the problems caused by cosmic ray events. Preliminary results are included.

VIRGOHI21 is an object detected in the Virgo Cluster HI survey of Davies et al {2004}, with a velocity width typical of a disc galaxy {220 km/s} but which does not appear to have an optical counterpart down to a surface brightness level of 27.5 B mag/sq. arcsec. Altogether, it is the best ever candidate for a Dark Galaxy. We propose to image this object with the ACS through the F814W filter for 9 orbits to see if this object contains a population of individually very faint stars which would be missed by ground-based telescopes.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a model organism for Solanaceae in both molecular and agronomic research. This project utilized Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation and the transposon-tagging construct Activator (Ac)/Dissociator (Ds)-ATag-Bar_gosGFP to produce activation-tagged and knockout mutants in the processing tomato cultivar M82. The construct carried hygromycin resistance (hyg), green fluorescent protein (GFP), and the transposase (TPase) of maize (Zea mays) Activator major transcript X054214.1 on the stable Ac element, along with a 35S enhancer tetramer and glufosinate herbicide resistance (BAR) on the mobile Ds-ATag element. An in vitro propagation strategy was used to produce a population of 25 T0 plants from a single transformed plant regenerated in tissue culture. A T1 population of 11,000 selfed and cv M82 backcrossed progeny was produced from the functional T0 line. This population was screened using glufosinate herbicide, hygromycin leaf painting, and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Insertion sites of transposed Ds-ATag elements were identified through thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR, and resulting product sequences were aligned to the recently published tomato genome. A population of 509 independent, Ds-only transposant lines spanning all 12 tomato chromosomes has been developed. Insertion site analysis demonstrated that more than 80% of these lines harbored Ds insertions conducive to activation tagging. The capacity of the Ds-ATag element to alter transcription was verified by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR in two mutant lines. The transposon-tagged lines have been immortalized in seed stocks and can be accessed through an online database, providing a unique resource for tomato breeding and analysis of gene function in the background of a commercial tomato cultivar. PMID:23569107

We have analyzed all the archival RXTE/PCA monitoring observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-1 in order to study the properties of its previously discovered 62 day X-ray period (Kaaret & Feng 2007). Based on the high coherence of the modulation it has been argued that the observed period is the orbital period of the binary. Utilizing a much longer data set than in previous studies we find: (1) The phase-resolved X-ray (3-15 keV) energy spectra - modeled with a thermal accretion disk and a power-law corona - suggest that the accretion disk's contribution to the total flux is responsible for the overall periodic modulation while the power-law flux remains approximately constant with phase. (2) Suggestive evidence for a sudden phase shift-of approximately 0.3 in phase (20 days)-between the first and the second halves of the light curve separated by roughly 1000 days. If confirmed, the implied timescale to change the period is approx. = 10 yrs, which is exceptionally fast for an orbital phenomenon. These independent pieces of evidence are consistent with the 62 day period being due to a precessing accretion disk, similar to the so-called super-orbital periods observed in systems like Her X-1, LMC X-4, and SS433. However, the timing evidence for a change in the period needs to be confirmed with additional observations. This should be possible with further monitoring of M82 with instruments such as the X-ray telescope (XRT) on board Swift.

Companion galaxy environment for a subset of 78 bright and nearby barred galaxies from the Shapley-Ames Catalog is presented. Among the spiral barred galaxies, there are Seyfert galaxies, galaxies with circumnuclear structures, galaxies not associated with any large-scale galaxy cloud structure, galaxies with peculiar disk morphology (crooked arms), and galaxies with normal disk morphology; the list includes all Hubble types. The companion galaxy list includes the number of companion galaxies within 20 diameters, their Hubble type, and projected separation distance. In addition, the companion environment was searched for four known active spiral galaxies, three of them are Seyfert galaxies, namely, NGC 1068, NGC 1097, and NGC 5548, and one is a starburst galaxy, M82. Among the results obtained, it is noted that the only spiral barred galaxy classified as Seyfert 1 in our list has no companions within a projected distance of 20 diameters; six out of 10 Seyfert 2 bar galaxies have no companions within 10 diameters, six out of 10 Seyfert 2 galaxies have one or more companions at projected separation distances between 10 and 20 diameters; six out of 12 galaxies with circumnuclear structures have two or more companions within 20 diameters.

We propose a new approach to discovering faint microlensing signals below traditional thresholds, and for estimating the binary-lens mass ratio and the apparent separation from such signals. The events found will be helpful in accurately estimating the true distribution of planetary semimajor axes, which is an important goal of space microlensing surveys.

Staring for the equivalent of every night for two weeks at the same little patch of sky with ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers has found the extremely faint light from teenage galaxies billions of light years away. These galaxies, which the research team believes are the building blocks of normal galaxies like our Milky Way, had eluded detection for three decades, despite intensive searches. ESO PR Photo 52/07 ESO PR Photo 52/07 A 92-hour long spectrum Two-dimensional spectrum obtained in 92 hours of exposure time, showing the line emitter candidates. The quasar absorption lines are visible close to the centre of the image. The team, led by Martin Haehnelt of the University of Cambridge, UK, Michael Rauch and George Becker of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution, USA, and Andy Bunker of the Anglo-Australian Observatory, reports their results in the 1 March 2008 issue of the Astrophysical Journal. "This is the first time that the sky has been searched to this depth and the unrivalled sensitivity of the picture taken with the VLT was key to succeeding," says Haehnelt. Experts have long speculated that galaxies like ours were created by the amalgamation of proto-galaxies early in the history of the Universe, but the light from these fragments was so faint that astronomers had struggled to prove they were there at all. Astronomers thought that the teenage galaxies must be out there because they were blocking part of the light from objects even further away in space. "Previous attempts have usually been frustrated by the difficulty of detecting extremely faint objects: the amount of time required even with an 8-metre class telescope like the VLT considerably exceeds typical observing time awards. We have thus exploited the periods of less good weather with the FORS2 spectrograph at the VLT, taking advantage of the service observing mode," says Becker. In service mode, ESO staff astronomers at Paranal are responsible for carrying

We present a new technique to estimate the evolution of the very faint end of the UV luminosity function (LF) out to z ∼ 5. Measured star formation histories (SFHs) from the fossil record of Local Group (LG) galaxies are used to reconstruct the LF down to M {sub UV} ∼–5 at z ∼ 5 and M {sub UV} ∼–1.5 at z < 1. Such faint limits are well beyond the current observational limits and are likely to remain beyond the limits of next-generation facilities. The reconstructed LFs, when combined with direct measurements of the LFs at higher luminosity, are well-fit by a standard Schechter function with no evidence of a break to the faintest limits probed by this technique. The derived faint-end slope, α, steepens from ≈ – 1.2 at z < 1 to ≈ – 1.6 at 4 < z < 5. We test the effects of burstiness in the SFHs and find the recovered LFs to be only modestly affected. Incompleteness corrections for the faintest LG galaxies and the (unlikely) possibility of significant luminosity-dependent destruction of dwarf galaxies between high redshift and the present epoch are important uncertainties. These and other uncertainties can be mitigated with more detailed modeling and future observations. The reconstructed faint end LF from the fossil record can therefore be a powerful and complementary probe of the high-redshift faintgalaxies believed to play a key role in the reionization of the universe.

We perform detailed surface photometry, based on B- and/or R-band CCD images of 92 faintgalaxies. They are a subsample of those galaxies which were studied by Hopp et al. (1994) in the direction of three nearby voids. We derive integral photometric parameters and radial surface brightness profiles and compare them to those of several faintgalaxy samples, located in different environments, and of a bright field galaxy sample. According to the obtained photometric characteristics, our sample is a mixture of intrinsically bright and faintgalaxies, about 60% of them belonging to the bright subsample (M_B_faint subsample (M_B_>=-19.0) has parameters typical for the low-surface-brightness (LSB) galaxies. There are a few well isolated galaxies both among the bright and faint subsamples. About 40% of studied galaxies reveal ellipticity and position angle variations along of the radius. The (B-R) colour indices of the observed galaxies span over a wide range of 0.5-1.8mag with a median value at 1.11 mag, rather blue. About 30% of the observed galaxies reveal radial colour gradients at a 5σ significance level. These galaxies show typically red centers and are getting bluer towards the periphery. The most isolated galaxies in our sample show relatively blue colours (B_T_-R_T_=~0.8). About 40% of the studied galaxies have surface brightness profiles which can be described by the model of single exponential disk. 38% of our galaxies have more complicated profiles and either can be approximated by two exponentials or show the presence of a small bulge. 20% of the observed galaxies have central light depression and outer irregularities - typical for some dwarf galaxies. These profile type frequencies are similar to those of faint field galaxy sample. The evolutionary history of both the isolated and clustered galaxies obviously

We report the discovery of two new Milky Way satellites in the neighboring constellations of Pisces and Pegasus identified in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Pisces II, an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy lies at the distance of {approx}180 kpc, some 15 deg. away from the recently detected Pisces I. Segue 3, an ultra-faint star cluster lies at the distance of 16 kpc. We use deep follow-up imaging obtained with the 4-m Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory to derive their structural parameters. Pisces II has a half-light radius of {approx}60 pc, while Segue 3 is 20 times smaller at only 3 pc.

Ultraluminous X-ray sources are usually believed to be black holes with mass about 102-3 M⊙. However, the recent discovery of NuSTAR J095551+6940.8 in M82 by Bachetti et al. shows that it holds the spin period P = 1.37 s and period derivative dot{P}≈ -2× 10^{-10} s s^{-1}, which provides a strong evidence that some ultraluminous X-ray sources could be neutron stars. We obtain that the source may be an evolved magnetar according to our simulation by employing the model of accretion induced the polar magnetic field decay and standard spin-up torque of an accreting neutron star. The results show that NuSTAR J095551+6940.8 is still in the spin-up process, and the polar magnetic field decays to about 4.5 × 1012 G after accreting ˜10-2.5 M⊙, while the strong magnetic field exists in the out-polar region, which could be responsible for the observed low field magnetar. The ultra luminosity of the source can be explained by the beaming effect and two kinds of accretion-radial random accretion and disc accretion. Since the birth rate of magnetars is about ten per cent of the normal neutron stars, we guess that several ultraluminous X-ray sources should share the similar properties to that of NuSTAR J095551+6940.8.

An EMCCD camera, designed from the ground up for extreme faint flux imaging, is presented. CCCP, the CCD Controller for Counting Photons, has been integrated with a CCD97 EMCCD from e2v technologies into a scientific camera at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique Expérimentale (LAE), Université de Montréal. This new camera achieves subelectron readout noise and very low clock-induced charge (CIC) levels, which are mandatory for extreme faint flux imaging. It has been characterized in laboratory and used on the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic 1.6 m telescope. The performance of the camera is discussed and experimental data with the first scientific data are presented.

Observing programs at optical (0.35-0.8 micron) and near-infrared (1.1-2.4 micron) wavelengths, directed at the acquisition of reflection spectra of faint and distant comets, are described. The ultimate goal is to obtain spectrophotometric measurements of comets for which a significant part of the light is expected to be reflected by the solid surface of the nucleus.

As a step toward investigating the parsec-scale properties of faint extragalactic radio sources, the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) was used at 5.0 GHz to obtain phase-referenced images of 76 sources in the NOAO Boötes field. These 76 sources were selected from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm (FIRST) catalog to have peak flux densities above 10 mJy at 5" resolution and deconvolved major diameters of less than 3" at 1.4 GHz. Of these faint radio sources, 57 were identified with accretion-powered radio galaxies and quasars brighter than 25.5 mag in the optical I band. On Very Large Array (VLA) scales at 1.4 GHz, a measure of the compactness of the faint sources (the ratio of the peak flux density from FIRST to the integrated flux density from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey catalog) spans the full range of possibilities arising from source-resolution effects. Of the faint radio sources, 30, or 39+9-7%, were detected with the VLBA at 5.0 GHz with peak flux densities above 6 σ~2 mJy at 2 mas resolution. The VLBA detections occur through the full range of compactness ratios. The stronger VLBA detections can themselves serve as phase-reference calibrators, boding well for opening up much of the radio sky to VLBA imaging. For the adopted cosmology, the VLBA resolution corresponds to 17 pc or finer. Most VLBA detections are unresolved or slightly resolved, but one is diffuse and five show either double or core-jet structures; the properties of these latter six are discussed in detail. Three VLBA detections are unidentified and fainter than 25.5 mag in the optical I band; their properties are highlighted because they likely mark optically obscured active nuclei at high redshift.

We present the first time-series study of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Hercules. Using a variety of telescope/instrument facilities we secured about 50 V and 80 B epochs. These data allowed us to detect and characterize 10 pulsating variable stars in Hercules. Our final sample includes six fundamental-mode (ab-type) and three first-overtone (c-type) RR Lyrae stars, and one Anomalous Cepheid. The average period of the ab-type RR Lyrae stars, (P{sub ab}) = 0.68 days ({sigma} = 0.03 days), places Hercules in the Oosterhoff II group, as found for almost the totality of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxies investigated so far for variability. The RR Lyrae stars were used to obtain independent estimates of the metallicity, reddening, and distance to Hercules, for which we find [Fe/H] = -2.30 {+-} 0.15 dex, E(B - V) = 0.09 {+-} 0.02 mag, and (m - M){sub 0} = 20.6 {+-} 0.1 mag, in good agreement with the literature values. We have obtained a V, B - V color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of Hercules that reaches V {approx} 25 mag and extends beyond the galaxy's half-light radius over a total area of 40' Multiplication-Sign 36'. The CMD and the RR Lyrae stars indicate the presence of a population as old and metal-poor as (at least) the Galactic globular cluster M68.

An edge-on disk galaxy would act as a lens to produce two images which are aligned. Such a model would explain the observed features of Q0957 + 561A, and B. The third image is expected to be very faint and so neat to center of the lensing galaxy as to be unobservable.

The hard X-ray continuum and gamma-ray lines from a Type Ia supernova dominate its integrated photon emissions and can provide unique diagnostics of the mass of the ejecta, the {sup 56}Ni yield and spatial distribution, its kinetic energy and expansion speed, and the mechanism of explosion. Such signatures and their time behavior 'X-ray' the bulk debris field in direct fashion, and do not depend on the ofttimes problematic and elaborate UV, optical, and near-infrared spectroscopy and radiative transfer that have informed the study of these events for decades. However, to date no hard photons have ever been detected from a Type Ia supernova in explosion. With the advent of the supernova SN 2014J in M82, at a distance of ∼3.5 Mpc, this situation may soon change. Both NuSTAR and INTEGRAL have the potential to detect SN 2014J, and, if spectra and light curves can be measured, would usefully constrain the various explosion models published during the last ∼30 yr. In support of these observational campaigns, we provide predictions for the hard X-ray continuum and gamma-line emissions for 15 Type Ia explosion models gleaned from the literature. The model set, containing as it does deflagration, delayed detonation, merger detonation, pulsational delayed detonation, and sub-Chandrasekhar helium detonation models, collectively spans a wide range of properties, and hence signatures. We provide a brief discussion of various diagnostics (with examples), but importantly make the spectral and line results available electronically to aid in the interpretation of the anticipated data.

The hard X-ray continuum and gamma-ray lines from a Type Ia supernova dominate its integrated photon emissions and can provide unique diagnostics of the mass of the ejecta, the 56Ni yield and spatial distribution, its kinetic energy and expansion speed, and the mechanism of explosion. Such signatures and their time behavior "X-ray" the bulk debris field in direct fashion, and do not depend on the ofttimes problematic and elaborate UV, optical, and near-infrared spectroscopy and radiative transfer that have informed the study of these events for decades. However, to date no hard photons have ever been detected from a Type Ia supernova in explosion. With the advent of the supernova SN 2014J in M82, at a distance of ~3.5 Mpc, this situation may soon change. Both NuSTAR and INTEGRAL have the potential to detect SN 2014J, and, if spectra and light curves can be measured, would usefully constrain the various explosion models published during the last ~30 yr. In support of these observational campaigns, we provide predictions for the hard X-ray continuum and gamma-line emissions for 15 Type Ia explosion models gleaned from the literature. The model set, containing as it does deflagration, delayed detonation, merger detonation, pulsational delayed detonation, and sub-Chandrasekhar helium detonation models, collectively spans a wide range of properties, and hence signatures. We provide a brief discussion of various diagnostics (with examples), but importantly make the spectral and line results available electronically to aid in the interpretation of the anticipated data.

We propose to observe a small sample of radio sources from the ATLAS project (ATLAS = Australia Telescope Large Area Survey) with the LBA, to determine their compactness and map their structures. The sample consists of three radio sources with no counterpart in the co-located SWIRE survey (3.6 um to 160 um), carried out with the Spitzer Space Telescope. This rare class of sources, dubbed Infrared-Faint Radio Sources, or IFRS, is inconsistent with current galaxy evolution models. VLBI observations are an essential way to obtain further clues on what these objects are and why they are hidden from infrared observations: we will map their structure to test whether they resemble core-jet or double-lobed morphologies, and we will measure the flux densities on long baselines, to determine their compactness. Previous snapshot-style LBA observations of two other IFRS yielded no detections, hence we propose to use disk-based recording with 512 Mbps where possible, for highest sensitivity. With the observations proposed here, we will increase the number of VLBI-observed IFRS from two to five, soon allowing us to draw general conclusions about this intriguing new class of objects.

With the advent of the new generation wide-field cameras it became possible to survey in an unbiased mode galaxies spanning a variety of local densities, from the core of rich clusters, to compact and loose groups, down to filaments and voids. The sensitivity reached by these instruments allowed to extend the observation to dwarf galaxies, the most "fragile" objects in the universe. At the same time models and simulations have been tailored to quantify the different effects of the environment on the evolution of galaxies. Simulations, models, and observations consistently indicate that star-forming dwarf galaxies entering high-density environments for the first time can be rapidly stripped from their interstellar medium. The lack of gas quenches the activity of star formation, producing on timescales of 1 Gyr quiescent galaxies with spectro-photometric, chemical, structural, and kinematical properties similar to those observed in dwarf early-type galaxies inhabiting rich clusters and loose groups. Simulations and observations consistently identify ram pressure stripping as the major effect responsible for the quenching of the star-formation activity in rich clusters. Gravitational interactions (galaxy harassment) can also be important in groups or in clusters whenever galaxies have been members since early epochs. The observation of clusters at different redshifts combined with the present high infalling rate of galaxies onto clusters indicate that the quenching of the star-formation activity in dwarf systems and the formation of the faint end of the red sequence is a very recent phenomenon.

With the advent of astronomical imaging technology developments, and the increased capacity of digital storage, the production of photographic atlases of the night sky have begun to generate volumes of data which need to be processed autonomously. As part of the Tonantzintla Digital Sky Survey construction, the present work involves software development for the digital image processing of astronomical images, in particular operations that preface feature extraction and classification. Recognition of galaxies in these images is the primary objective of the present work. Many galaxy images have poor resolution or contain faintgalaxy features, resulting in the misclassification of galaxies. An enhancement of these images by the method of the Heap transform is proposed, and experimental results are provided which demonstrate the image enhancement to improve the presence of faintgalaxy features thereby improving classification accuracy. The feature extraction was performed using morphological features that have been widely used in previous automated galaxy investigations. Principal component analysis was applied to the original and enhanced data sets for a performance comparison between the original and reduced features spaces. Classification was performed by the Support Vector Machine learning algorithm.

We analysed several basic correlations between structural parameters of galaxies. The data were taken from various samples in different passbands which are available in the literature. We discuss disc scaling relations as well as some debatable issues concerning the so-called Photometric Plane for bulges and elliptical galaxies in different forms and various versions of the famous Kormendy relation. We show that some of the correlations under discussion are artificial (self-correlations), while others truly reveal some new essential details of the structural properties of galaxies. Our main results are as follows: At present, we cannot conclude that faint stellar discs are, on average, more thin than discs in high surface brightness galaxies. The `central surface brightness-thickness' correlation appears only as a consequence of the transparent exponential disc model to describe real galaxy discs.The Photometric Plane appears to have no independent physical sense. Various forms of this plane are merely sophisticated versions of the Kormendy relation or of the self-relation involving the central surface brightness of a bulge/elliptical galaxy and the Sérsic index n.The Kormendy relation is a physical correlation presumably reflecting the difference in the origin of bright and faint ellipticals and bulges.We present arguments that involve creating artificial samples to prove our main idea.

The 6.5-m Magellan telescope 'Walter Baade' at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile has been used for spot surveys of the GEO orbital regime to study the population of optically faint GEO debris. The goal is to estimate the size of the population of GEO debris at sizes much smaller than can be studied with 1-meter class telescopes. Despite the small size of the field of view of the Magellan instrument (diameter 0.5-degree), a significant population of objects fainter than R = 19th magnitude have been found with angular rates consistent with circular orbits at GEO. We compare the size of this population with the numbers of GEO objects found at brighter magnitudes by smaller telescopes. The observed detections have a wide range in characteristics starting with those appearing as short uniform streaks. But there are a substantial number of detections with variations in brightness, flashers, during the 5-second exposure. The duration of each of these flashes can be extremely brief: sometimes less than half a second. This is characteristic of a rapidly tumbling object with a quite variable projected size times albedo. If the albedo is of the order of 0.2, then the largest projected size of these objects is around 10-cm. The data in this paper was collected over the last several years using Magellan's IMACS camera in f/2 mode. The analysis shows the brightness bins for the observed GEO population as well as the periodicity of the flashers. All objects presented are correlated with the catalog: the focus of the paper will be on the uncorrelated, optically faint, objects. The goal of this project is to better characterize the faint debris population in GEO that access to a 6.5-m optical telescope in a superb site can provide.

Spectroscopy of 450 faint blue stars obtained with the spectrograph and intensified Reticon scanner on the 1.3 m telescope at the McGraw Hill Observatory located at Kitt Peak are examined. The study is limited to objects brighter than V = 17.0 in magnitude. It is found that the relative numbers of objects such as white dwarfs, QSOs and CVs in the Kisco survey (Noguchi et al. 1980) is similar to that in the survey of Green et al., (1986).

Observations by the Galileo spacecraft and the Keck telescope showed that Jupiter's outermost (gossamer) ring is actually two rings circumscribed by the orbits of the small satellites Amalthea and Thebe. The gossamer rings' unique morphology-especially the rectangular end profiles at the satellite's orbit and the enhanced intensities along the top and bottom edges of the rings-can be explained by collisional ejecta lost from the inclined satellites. The ejecta evolves inward under Poynting-Robertson drag. This mechanism may also explain the origin of Jupiter's main ring and suggests that faint rings may accompany all small inner satellites of the other jovian planets. PMID:10325220

Extremely metal poor (XMP) galaxies are known to be very rare, despite the large numbers of low-mass galaxies predicted by the local galaxy luminosity function. This paper presents a subsample of galaxies that were selected via a morphology-based search on Sloan Digital Sky Survey images with the aim of finding these elusive XMP galaxies. By using the recently discovered XMP galaxy, Leo P, as a guide, we obtained a collection of faint, blue systems, each with isolated H II regions embedded in a diffuse continuum, that have remained optically undetected until now. Here we show the first results from optical spectroscopic follow-up observations of 12 of ˜100 of these blue diffuse dwarf (BDD) galaxies yielded by our search algorithm. Oxygen abundances were obtained via the direct method for eight galaxies, and found to be in the range 7.45 < 12 + log (O/H) < 8.0, with two galaxies being classified as XMPs. All BDDs were found to currently have a young star-forming population (<10 Myr) and relatively high ionization parameters of their H II regions. Despite their low luminosities (-11 ≲ MB ≲ -18) and low surface brightnesses (˜23-25 mag arcsec-2), the galaxies were found to be actively star forming, with current star formation rates between 0.0003 and 0.078 M⊙ yr-1. From our current subsample, BDD galaxies appear to be a population of non-quiescent dwarf irregular galaxies, or the diffuse counterparts to blue compact galaxies and as such may bridge the gap between these two populations. Our search algorithm demonstrates that morphology-based searches are successful in uncovering more diffuse metal-poor star-forming galaxies, which traditional emission-line-based searches overlook.

Discovery of KELU-1 Promises New Insights into Strange Objects Brown Dwarfs are star-like objects which are too small to become real stars, yet too large to be real planets. Their mass is too small to ignite those nuclear processes which are responsible for the large energies and high temperatures of stars, but it is much larger than that of the planets we know in our solar system. Until now, very few Brown Dwarfs have been securely identified as such. Two are members of double-star systems, and a few more are located deep within the Pleiades star cluster. Now, however, Maria Teresa Ruiz of the Astronomy Department at Universidad de Chile (Santiago de Chile), using telescopes at the ESO La Silla observatory, has just discovered one that is all alone and apparently quite near to us. Contrary to the others which are influenced by other objects in their immediate surroundings, this new Brown Dwarf is unaffected and will thus be a perfect object for further investigations that may finally allow us to better understand these very interesting celestial bodies. It has been suggested that Brown Dwarfs may constitute a substantial part of the unseen dark matter in our Galaxy. This discovery may therefore also have important implications for this highly relevant research area. Searching for nearby faint stars The story of this discovery goes back to 1987 when Maria Teresa Ruiz decided to embark upon a long-term search (known as the Calan-ESO proper-motion survey ) for another type of unusual object, the so-called White Dwarfs , i.e. highly evolved, small and rather faint stars. Although they have masses similar to that of the Sun, such stars are no larger than the Earth and are therefore extremely compact. They are particularly interesting, because they most probably represent the future end point of evolution of our Sun, some billions of years from now. For this project, the Chilean astronomer obtained large-field photographic exposures with the 1-m ESO Schmidt telescope at

The molecular phase of the interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies offers fundamental insight for understanding star-formation processes and how stellar feedback affects the nuclear activity of certain galaxies. We present here Large Millimeter Telescope spectra obtained with the Redshift Search Receiver, a spectrograph that covers simultaneously the 3 mm band from 74 to 111 GHz with a spectral resolution of around 100 km/s. Our selected galaxies, have been detected previously in HCN, and have different degrees of nuclear activity — one normal galaxy (NGC 6946), the starburst prototype (M82) and two %ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs, IRAS 17208-0014 and Mrk 231). We plotted our data in the HCO+/HCN vs. HCN/13CO diagnostic diagram finding that NGC 6946 and M82 are located close to other normal galaxies; and that both IRAS 17208-0014 and Mrk 231 are close to the position of the well known ULIRG Arp 220 reported by Snell et al. (2011). We found that in Mrk 231 - a galaxy with a well known active galactic nucleus - the HCO+/HCN ratio is similar to the ratio observed in normal galaxies.

We present The SDSS Multiple Offspring Recombination Engine (SMORE), a newly developed code that automatically and interactively recombines galaxies fragmented by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Photo pipeline. The SDSS software was optimized for the faint-end of the brightness limit and tends to over-deblend galaxies with angular sizes over 2 arcmin, sometimes separating spiral arms and HII regions from their parent galaxies. This process can remove a large percentage of the flux from the galaxy and bias datasets due to incorrect photometry. SMORE automatically builds galaxies from the fragments ("children"). Decisions on which child to include are made on the basis of its g-r and r-i color (relative to the mean colors of the largest galaxy children), size, distance to the center of the galaxy, type (as assigned by SDSS Photo) and the position angle. If there are pieces for which a decision cannot be made and their relative flux is more than 5% of the total flux of the galaxy, the interactive SMORE gives a user option to manually choose which of those children should be included. Recombined galaxies are built on a clean background without foreground and background objects and new photometry is performed.

Chemical signatures in dwarf galaxies describe the examination of specific elemental abundance ratios to investigate the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies, particularly when compared with the variety of stellar populations in the Galaxy. Abundance ratios can come from HII region emission lines, planetary nebulae, or supernova remnants, but mostly they come from stars. Since stars can live a very long time, for example, a 0.8 MSun star born at the time of the Big Bang would only now be ascending the red giant branch, and, if, for the most part, its quiescent main sequence lifetime had been uneventful, then it is possible that the surface chemistry of stars actually still resembles their natal chemistry. Detailed abundances of stars in dwarf galaxies can be used to reconstruct their chemical evolution, which we now find to be distinct from any other component of the Galaxy, questioning the assertion that dwarf galaxies like these built up the Galaxy. Potential solutions to reconciling dwarf galaxy abundances and Galaxy formation models include the timescale for significant merging and the possibility for uncovering different stellar populations in the new ultra-faint dwarfs.

Using all the archival XMM-Newton X-ray (3-10 keV) observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-1, we searched for a correlation between its variable mHz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) frequency and its hardness ratio (5-10 keV/3-5 keV), an indicator of the energy spectral power-law index. When stellar-mass black holes (StMBHs) exhibit type-C low-frequency QPOs ({approx}0.2-15 Hz), the centroid frequency of the QPO is known to correlate with the energy spectral index. The detection of such a correlation would strengthen the identification of M82 X-1's mHz QPOs as type-C and enable a more reliable mass estimate by scaling its QPO frequencies to those of type-C QPOs in StMBHs of known mass. We resolved the count rates and the hardness ratios of M82 X-1 and a nearby bright ULX (source 5/X42.3+59) through surface brightness modeling. We detected QPOs in the frequency range of 36-210 mHz during which M82 X-1's hardness ratio varied from 0.42 to 0.47. Our primary results are (1) that we do not detect any correlation between the mHz QPO frequency and the hardness ratio (a substitute for the energy spectral power-law index) and (2) similar to some accreting X-ray binaries, we find that M82 X-1's mHz QPO frequency increases with its X-ray count rate (Pearson's correlation coefficient = +0.97). The apparent lack of a correlation between the QPO centroid frequency and the hardness ratio poses a challenge to the earlier claims that the mHz QPOs of M82 X-1 are the analogs of the type-C low-frequency QPOs of StMBHs. On the other hand, it is possible that the observed relation between the hardness ratio and the QPO frequency represents the saturated portion of the correlation seen in type-C QPOs of StMBHs-in which case M82 X-1's mHz QPOs can still be analogous to type-C QPOs.

Using all the archival XMM-Newton X-ray (3-10 keV) observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-1, we searched for a correlation between its variable mHz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) frequency and its hardness ratio (5-10 keV/3-5 keV), an indicator of the energy spectral power-law index. When stellar-mass black holes (StMBHs) exhibit type-C low-frequency QPOs (0.2-15 Hz), the centroid frequency of the QPO is known to correlate with the energy spectral index. The detection of such a correlation would strengthen the identification of M82 X-1's mHz QPOs as type-C and enable a more reliable mass estimate by scaling its QPO frequencies to those of type-C QPOs in StMBHs of known mass.We resolved the count rates and the hardness ratios of M82 X-1 and a nearby bright ULX (source 5/X42.3+59) through surface brightness modeling.We detected QPOs in the frequency range of 36-210 mHz during which M82 X-1's hardness ratio varied from 0.42 to 0.47. Our primary results are (1) that we do not detect any correlation between the mHz QPO frequency and the hardness ratio (a substitute for the energy spectral power-law index) and (2) similar to some accreting X-ray binaries, we find that M82 X-1's mHz QPO frequency increases with its X-ray count rate (Pearson's correlation coefficient = +0.97). The apparent lack of a correlation between the QPO centroid frequency and the hardness ratio poses a challenge to the earlier claims that the mHz QPOs of M82 X-1 are the analogs of the type-C low-frequency QPOs of StMBHs. On the other hand, it is possible that the observed relation between the hardness ratio and the QPO frequency represents the saturated portion of the correlation seen in type-C QPOs of StMBHs-in which case M82 X-1's mHz QPOs can still be analogous to type-C QPOs.

Using all the archival XMM-Newton X-ray (3-10 keV) observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-1, we searched for a correlation between its variable mHz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) frequency and its hardness ratio (5-10 keV/3-5 keV), an indicator of the energy spectral power-law index. When stellar-mass black holes (StMBHs) exhibit type-C low-frequency QPOs (~0.2-15 Hz), the centroid frequency of the QPO is known to correlate with the energy spectral index. The detection of such a correlation would strengthen the identification of M82 X-1's mHz QPOs as type-C and enable a more reliable mass estimate by scaling its QPO frequencies to those of type-C QPOs in StMBHs of known mass. We resolved the count rates and the hardness ratios of M82 X-1 and a nearby bright ULX (source 5/X42.3+59) through surface brightness modeling. We detected QPOs in the frequency range of 36-210 mHz during which M82 X-1's hardness ratio varied from 0.42 to 0.47. Our primary results are (1) that we do not detect any correlation between the mHz QPO frequency and the hardness ratio (a substitute for the energy spectral power-law index) and (2) similar to some accreting X-ray binaries, we find that M82 X-1's mHz QPO frequency increases with its X-ray count rate (Pearson's correlation coefficient = +0.97). The apparent lack of a correlation between the QPO centroid frequency and the hardness ratio poses a challenge to the earlier claims that the mHz QPOs of M82 X-1 are the analogs of the type-C low-frequency QPOs of StMBHs. On the other hand, it is possible that the observed relation between the hardness ratio and the QPO frequency represents the saturated portion of the correlation seen in type-C QPOs of StMBHs—in which case M82 X-1's mHz QPOs can still be analogous to type-C QPOs.

Using new Keck DEIMOS spectroscopy, we examine the origin of the steep number counts of ultra-faint emission-line galaxies recently reported by Dressler et al. We confirm six Ly{alpha} emitters (LAEs), three of which have significant asymmetric line profiles with prominent wings extending 300-400 km s{sup -1} redward of the peak emission. With these six LAEs, we revise our previous estimate of the number of faint LAEs in the Dressler et al. survey. Combining these data with the density of bright LAEs in the Cosmic Evolution Survey and Subaru Deep Field provides the best constraints to date on the redshift 5.7 LAE luminosity function (LF). Schechter function parameters, {phi}* = 4.5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4} Mpc{sup -3}, L* = 9.1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 42} erg s{sup -1}, and {alpha} = -1.70, are estimated using a maximum likelihood technique with a model for slit-losses. To place this result in the context of the UV-selected galaxy population, we investigate how various parameterizations of the Ly{alpha} equivalent width distribution, along with the measured UV-continuum LF, affect shape and normalization of the Ly{alpha} LF. The nominal model, which uses z {approx} 6 equivalent widths from the literature, falls short of the observed space density of LAEs at the bright end, possibly indicating a need for higher equivalent widths. This parameterization of the equivalent width distribution implies that as many as 50% of our faintest LAEs should have M{sub UV} > -18.0, rendering them undetectable in even the deepest Hubble Space Telescope surveys at this redshift. Hence, ultra-deep emission-line surveys find some of the faintest galaxies ever observed at the end of the reionization epoch. Such faintgalaxies likely enrich the intergalactic medium with metals and maintain its ionized state in the post-reionization era. Observations of these objects provide a glimpse of the building blocks of present-day galaxies at an early time.

We present a deep image of the radio galaxy MRC 1138-262 taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) at a redshift of z=2.2. The galaxy is known to have properties of a cD galaxy progenitor and be surrounded by a 3 Mpc-sized structure, identified with a protocluster. The morphology shown on the new deep HST ACS image is reminiscent of a spider's web. More than 10 individual clumpy features are observed, apparently star-forming satellite galaxies in the process of merging with the progenitor of a dominant cluster galaxy 11 Gyr ago. There is an extended emission component, implying that star formation was occurring over a 50×40 kpc region at a rate of more than 100 Msolar yr-1. A striking feature of the newly named ``Spiderweb galaxy'' is the presence of several faint linear galaxies within the merging structure. The dense environments and fast galaxy motions at the centers of protoclusters may stimulate the formation of these structures, which dominate the faint resolved galaxy populations in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The new image provides a unique testbed for simulations of forming dominant cluster galaxies.

A complete, flux density limited sample of 96 faint (>0.5 mJy) radio sources is selected from the 10C survey at 15.7 GHz in the Lockman Hole. We have matched this sample to a range of multi-wavelength catalogues, including Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey, Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic survey, United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Infrared Deep Sky Survey and optical data; multi-wavelength counterparts are found for 80 of the 96 sources and spectroscopic redshifts are available for 24 sources. Photometric redshifts are estimated for the sources with multi-wavelength data available; the median redshift of the sample is 0.91 with an interquartile range of 0.84. Radio-to-optical ratios show that at least 94 per cent of the sample are radio loud, indicating that the 10C sample is dominated by radio galaxies. This is in contrast to samples selected at lower frequencies, where radio-quiet AGN and star-forming galaxies are present in significant numbers at these flux density levels. All six radio-quiet sources have rising radio spectra, suggesting that they are dominated by AGN emission. These results confirm the conclusions of Paper I that the faint, flat-spectrum sources which are found to dominate the 10C sample below ˜1 mJy are the cores of radio galaxies. The properties of the 10C sample are compared to the Square Kilometre Array Design Studies Simulated Skies; a population of low-redshift star-forming galaxies predicted by the simulation is not found in the observed sample.

We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging of a newly discovered faint stellar system, PAndAS-48, in the outskirts of the M31 halo. Our photometry reveals this object to be comprised of an ancient and very metal-poor stellar population with age >~ 10 Gyr and [Fe/H] lsim -2.3. Our inferred distance modulus (m - M)0 = 24.57 ± 0.11 confirms that PAndAS-48 is most likely a remote M31 satellite with a three-dimensional galactocentric radius of 149^{+19}_{-8} kpc. We observe an apparent spread in color on the upper red giant branch that is larger than the photometric uncertainties should allow, and briefly explore the implications of this. Structurally, PAndAS-48 is diffuse, faint, and moderately flattened, with a half-light radius r_h=26^{+4}_{-3} pc, integrated luminosity MV = -4.8 ± 0.5, and ellipticity \\epsilon =0.30^{+0.08}_{-0.15}. On the size-luminosity plane it falls between the extended globular clusters seen in several nearby galaxies and the recently discovered faint dwarf satellites of the Milky Way; however, its characteristics do not allow us to unambiguously classify it as either type of system. If PAndAS-48 is a globular cluster then it is among the most elliptical, isolated, and metal-poor of any seen in the Local Group, extended or otherwise. Conversely, while its properties are generally consistent with those observed for the faint Milky Way dwarfs, it would be a factor of ~2-3 smaller in spatial extent than any known counterpart of comparable luminosity. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program GO 12515.

We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging of a newly discovered faint stellar system, PAndAS-48, in the outskirts of the M31 halo. Our photometry reveals this object to be comprised of an ancient and very metal-poor stellar population with age {approx}> 10 Gyr and [Fe/H] {approx}< -2.3. Our inferred distance modulus (m - M){sub 0} = 24.57 {+-} 0.11 confirms that PAndAS-48 is most likely a remote M31 satellite with a three-dimensional galactocentric radius of 149{sup +19}{sub -8} kpc. We observe an apparent spread in color on the upper red giant branch that is larger than the photometric uncertainties should allow, and briefly explore the implications of this. Structurally, PAndAS-48 is diffuse, faint, and moderately flattened, with a half-light radius r{sub h}=26{sup +4}{sub -3} pc, integrated luminosity M{sub V} = -4.8 {+-} 0.5, and ellipticity {epsilon}=0.30{sup +0.08}{sub -0.15}. On the size-luminosity plane it falls between the extended globular clusters seen in several nearby galaxies and the recently discovered faint dwarf satellites of the Milky Way; however, its characteristics do not allow us to unambiguously classify it as either type of system. If PAndAS-48 is a globular cluster then it is among the most elliptical, isolated, and metal-poor of any seen in the Local Group, extended or otherwise. Conversely, while its properties are generally consistent with those observed for the faint Milky Way dwarfs, it would be a factor of {approx}2-3 smaller in spatial extent than any known counterpart of comparable luminosity.

As a step toward investigating the parsec-scale properties of faint extragalactic radio sources, the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) was used at 5.0 GHz to obtain phase-referenced images of 76 sources in the NOAO Booetes field. These 76 sources were selected from the FIRST catalog to have peak flux densities above 10 mJy at 5'' resolution and deconvolved major diameters of less than 3'' at 1.4 GHz. Fifty-five of these faint radio sources were identified with accretion-powered radio galaxies and quasars brighter than 25.5 mag in the optical I band. On VLA scales at 1.4 GHz, a measure of the compactness of the faint sources (the ratio of the peak flux density from FIRST to the integrated flux density from the NVSS catalog) spans the full range of possibilities arising from source-resolution effects. Thirty of the faint radio sources, or 39{sub -7}{sup +9}%, were detected with the VLBA at 5.0 GHz with peak flux densities above 6 {sigma} {approx} 2 mJy at 2 mas resolution. The VLBA detections occur through the full range of compactness ratios. The stronger VLBA detections can themselves serve as phase-reference calibrators, boding well for opening up much of the radio sky to VLBA imaging. For the adopted cosmology, the VLBA resolution corresponds to 17 pc or finer. Most VLBA detections are unresolved or slightly resolved but one is diffuse and five show either double or core-jet structures; the properties of these latter six are discussed in detail. Eight VLBA detections are unidentified and fainter than 25.5 mag in the optical I band; their properties are highlighted because they likely mark optically-obscured active nuclei at high redshift.

Existing optical surveys for debris at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) have been conducted with meter class telescopes, which have detection limits in the range of 18th-19th magnitude. We report on a new search for optically faint debris at GEO using the 6.5-m Magellan telescope ‘Walter Baade’ at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Our goal is to go as faint as possible and characterize the brightness distribution of debris fainter than R = 20th magnitude, corresponding to a size smaller than 10 cm assuming an albedo of 0.175. We wish to compare the inferred size distribution for GEO debris with that for LEO debris. We describe preliminary results obtained during 9.4 hours of observing time during 25-27 March 2011. We used the IMACS f/2 instrument, which has a mosaic of 8 CCDs, and a field of view of 30 arc-minutes in diameter. This is the widest field of view of any instrument on either Magellan telescope. All observations were obtained through a Sloan r’ filter. The limiting magnitude for 5 second exposures is measured to be fainter tan R = 21. With this small field of view and the limited observing time, our objective was to search for optically faint objects from the Titan 3C Transtage (1968-081) fragmentation in 1992. Eight debris pieces and the parent rocket body are in the Space Surveillance Network public catalog. We successfully tracked two cataloged pieces of Titan debris (SSN # 25001 and 33519) with the 6.5-m telescope, followed by a survey for objects on similar orbits but with a spread in mean anomaly. To detect bright objects over a wider field of view (1.6x1.6 degrees), we observed the same field centers at the same time through a similar filter with the 0.6-m MODEST (Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope), located 100 km to the south of Magellan at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. We will describe our experiences using Magellan, a telescope never used previously for orbital debris research, and our initial results.

Existing optical surveys for debris at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) have been conducted with meter class telescopes, which have detection limits in the range of 18th-19th magnitude. We report on a new search for optically faint debris at GEO using the 6.5-m Magellan 1 telescope Walter Baade at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Our goal is to go as faint as possible and characterize the brightness distribution of debris fainter than R = 20th magnitude, corresponding to a size smaller than 10 cm assuming an albedo of 0.175. We wish to compare the inferred size distribution for GEO debris with that for LEO debris. We describe results obtained during 9.4 hours of observing time during 25-27 March 2011. We used the IMACS f/2 instrument, which has a mosaic of 8 CCDs, and a field of view of 30 arc-minutes in diameter. This is the widest field of view of any instrument on either Magellan telescope. All observations were obtained through a Sloan r filter. The limiting magnitude for 5 second exposures is estimated to be fainter than 22. With this small field of view and the limited observing time, our objective was to search for optically faint objects from the Titan 3C Transtage (1968-081) fragmentation in 1992. Eight debris pieces and the parent rocket body are in the Space Surveillance Network public catalog. We successfully tracked two cataloged pieces of Titan debris (SSN # 25001 and 33519) with the 6.5-m telescope, followed by a survey for objects on similar orbits but with a spread in mean anomaly. To detect bright objects over a wider field of view (1.6x1.6 degrees), we observed the same field centers at the same time through a similar filter with the 0.6-m MODEST (Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope), located 100 km to the south of Magellan at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. We will describe our experiences using Magellan, a telescope never used previously for orbital debris research, and our initial results.

What may first appear as a sunny side up egg is actually NASA Hubble Space Telescope's face-on snapshot of the small spiral galaxy NGC 7742. But NGC 7742 is not a run-of-the-mill spiral galaxy. In fact, this spiral is known to be a Seyfert 2 active galaxy, a type of galaxy that is probably powered by a black hole residing in its core. The core of NGC 7742 is the large yellow 'yolk' in the center of the image. The lumpy, thick ring around this core is an area of active starbirth. The ring is about 3,000 light-years from the core. Tightly wound spiral arms also are faintly visible. Surrounding the inner ring is a wispy band of material, which is probably the remains of a once very active stellar breeding ground. Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)

Nearby starburst galaxies are a good laboratory for the study of starburst processes. M82, one of the most famous starburst galaxies, has been a target for numerous studies of starburst events. Especially, many studies have used star clusters as starburst tracers in M82, but they usually investigated a only small central region. We present a photometric study of star clusters in M82 using wide-field UBVI, YJ, and H band images in the Hubble Space Telescope archive. We find ˜1100 star clusters in 12’x8’ field, and estimate ages and masses of about 630 star clusters using spectral energy distribution fitting method. Young star clusters are located in the disk region, while old star clusters are found in both disk and halo regions. Age distribution of star clusters shows three distinguished populations: young (≦ 5 Myr), intermediate-age (about 500 Myr), and old (≧10 Gyr) star clusters. Several massive young star clusters (≥˜105M⊙) are found in the nuclear region, which are regarded as a result of recent starburst. Interestingly, we also find very massive star clusters (≥˜106M⊙) with intermediate-age in the nuclear region, which indicates another starburst event at about 500 Myr ago. This suggests that there are at least two starburst events: 5 Myr and 500 Myr ago, and that the earlier starburst at about 500 Myr ago may be more violent than the recent one. We also find about 30 star clusters in the halo region of M82. They are probably metal-poor old globular clusters belonging to M82 halo. It suggests that starburst galaxies may also be enshrouded by old stellar populations.

In the local Universe most massive black holes at the centers of galaxies are not luminous quasars. Is this because (1) they are starved of gas, (2) they accrete without emitting radiation, (3) they refuse to eat, ejecting the incoming material, or (4) they are storing up matter in an accretion disk to feast later?With Chandra ACIS we have imaged a pilot sample of 6 nearby (D 30 Mpc) elliptical galaxies chosen to be especially quiescent based on the careful optical spectroscopy of Ho, measured black hole masses (Mbh > 10(7)Msol), and with existing X-ray upper limits (Lx 10(40)erg/s) implying far sub-Eddington accretion. In these galaxies we can measure, or limit, the diffuse hot interstellar medium, and so constrain the Bondi accretion rate.Faint X-ray emission is detected at or around the nucleus in each galaxy. The morphology of these weak X-ray sources is complex. The X-ray colors of the sources can be determined, and a moderate quality spectrum for one was obtained. We discuss these results against the possible explanations of black hole quiescence.On the other hand, a few percent of all galaxies shows evidence for nuclear activity and a brief review of the high energy emission from Active Galactic Nuclei is given.

PMAS is a fiber-coupled lens array type of integral field spectrograph, which was commissioned at the Calar Alto 3.5m Telescope in May 2001. The optical layout of the instrument was chosen such as to provide a large wavelength coverage, and good transmission from 0.35 to 1 μm. One of the major objectives of the PMAS development has been to perform 3D spectrophotometry, taking advantage of the contiguous array of spatial elements over the 2-dimensional field-of-view of the integral field unit. With science results obtained during the first two years of operation, we illustrate that 3D spectroscopy is an ideal tool for faint object spectrophotometry.

This study proposes an algorithm to detect orbital objects that are small or moving at high apparent velocities from optical images by utilizing their faint streaks. In the conventional object-detection algorithm, a high signal-to-noise-ratio (e.g., 3 or more) is required, whereas in our proposed algorithm, the signals are summed along the streak direction to improve object-detection sensitivity. Lower signal-to-noise ratio objects were detected by applying the algorithm to a time series of images. The algorithm comprises the following steps: (1) image skewing, (2) image compression along the vertical axis, (3) detection and determination of streak position, (4) searching for object candidates using the time-series streak-position data, and (5) selecting the candidate with the best linearity and reliability. Our algorithm's ability to detect streaks with signals weaker than the background noise was confirmed using images from the Australia Remote Observatory.

Progress in a number of technical areas is enabling imaging and interferometric observations at both smaller angular separations from bright stars and at deeper relative contrast levels. Here we discuss recent progress in several ongoing projects at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. First, extreme adaptive optics wavefront correction has recently enabled the use of very short (i.e., blue) wavelengths to resolve close binaries. Second, phase-based coronagraphy has recently allowed observations of faint companions to within nearly one diffraction beam width of bright stars. Finally, rotating interferometers that can observe inside the diffraction beam of single aperture telescopes are being developed to detect close-in companions and bright exozodiacal dust. This paper presents a very brief summary of the techniques involved, along with some illustrative results.

We report on results from a search for optically faint debris (defined as R > 20th magnitude, or smaller than 10 cm assuming an albedo of 0.175)) at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) using the 6.5-m Magellan telescope "Walter Baade" at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Our goal is to characterize the brightness distribution of debris to the faintest limiting magnitude possible. Our data was obtained during 6 hours of observing time during the photometric nights of 26 and 27 March 2011 with the IMACS f/2 instrument, which has a field of view (fov) of 0.5 degrees in diameter. All observations were obtained through a Sloan r filter, and calibrated by observations of Landolt standard stars. Our primary objective was to search for optically faint objects from one of the few known fragmentations at GEO: the Titan 3C Transtage (1968-081) fragmentation in 1992. Eight debris pieces and the parent rocket body are in the Space Surveillance Network public catalog. We successfully tracked two cataloged pieces of Titan debris with the 6.5-m telescope, followed by a survey for unknown objects on similar orbits but with different mean anomalies. To establish the bright end of the debris population, calibrated observations were acquired on the same field centers, telescope rates, and time period with a similar filter on the 0.6-m MODEST (Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope), located 100 km to the south of Magellan at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. We will show the calibrated brightness distributions from both telescopes, and compare the observed brightness distributions with that predicted for various population models of debris of different sizes.

An image of the grand design of spiral galaxy M100 obtained with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope resolves individual stars within the majestic spiral arms. (These stars typically appeared blurred together when viewed with ground-based telescopes.) Hubble has the ability to resolve individual stars in other galaxies and measure accurately the light from very faint stars. This makes space telescope invaluable for identifying a rare class of pulsating stars, called Cepheid Variable stars embedded within M100's spiral arms. Cepheids are reliable cosmic distance mileposts. The interval it takes for the Cepheid to complete one pulsation is a direct indication of the stars's intrinsic brightness. This value can be used to make a precise measurement of the galaxy's distance, which turns out to be 56 million light-years. M100 (100th object in the Messier catalog of non-stellar objects) is a majestic face-on spiral galaxy. It is a rotating system of gas and stars, similar to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Hubble routinely can view M100 with a level of clarity and sensitivity previously possible only for the very few nearby galaxies that compose our 'Local Group.'' M100 is a member of the huge Virgo cluster of an estimated 2,500 galaxies. The galaxy can be seen by amateur astronomers as a faint, pinwheel-shaped object in the spring constellation Coma Berenices. Technical Information: The Hubble Space Telescope image was taken on December 31, 1993 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC 2). This color picture is a composite of several images taken in different colors of light. Blue corresponds to regions containing hot newborn stars. The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center for NASA's Office of Space Science. Credit: J. Trauger, JPL and NASA

In this paper, the classification accuracy of galaxy images is demonstrated to be improved by enhancing the galaxy images. Galaxy images often contain faint regions that are of similar intensity to stars and the image background, resulting in data loss during background subtraction and galaxy segmentation. Enhancement darkens these faint regions, enabling them to be distinguished from other objects in the image and the image background, relative to their original intensities. The heap transform is employed for the purpose of enhancement. Segmentation then produces a galaxy image which closely resembles the structure of the original galaxy image, and one that is suitable for further processing and classification. 6 Morphological feature descriptors are applied to the segmented images after a preprocessing stage and used to extract the galaxy image structure for use in training the classifier. The support vector machine learning algorithm performs training and validation of the original and enhanced data, and a comparison between the classification accuracy of each data set is included. Principal component analysis is used to compress the data sets for the purpose of classification visualization and a comparison between the reduced and original feature spaces. Future directions for this research include galaxy image enhancement by various methods, and classification performed with the use of a sparse dictionary. Both future directions are introduced.

We describe ultraviolet and optical imaging and spectroscopy within the central few arcseconds of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151, obtained with the Faint Object Camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. A narrowband image including (O III) lambda(5007) shows a bright nucleus centered on a complex biconical structure having apparent opening angle approximately 65 deg and axis at a position angle along 65 deg-245 deg; images in bands including Lyman-alpha and C IV lambda(1550) and in the optical continuum near 5500 A, show only the bright nucleus. In an off-nuclear optical long-slit spectrum we find a high and a low radial velocity component within the narrow emission lines. We identify the low-velocity component with the bright, extended, knotty structure within the cones, and the high-velocity component with more confined diffuse emission. Also present are strong continuum emission and broad Balmer emission line components, which we attribute to the extended point spread function arising from the intense nuclear emission. Adopting the geometry pointed out by Pedlar et al. (1993) to explain the observed misalignment of the radio jets and the main optical structure we model an ionizing radiation bicone, originating within a galactic disk, with apex at the active nucleus and axis centered on the extended radio jets. We confirm that through density bounding the gross spatial structure of the emission line region can be reproduced with a wide opening angle that includes the line of sight, consistent with the presence of a simple opaque torus allowing direct view of the nucleus. In particular, our modelling reproduces the observed decrease in position angle with distance from the nucleus, progressing initially from the direction of the extended radio jet, through our optical structure, and on to the extended narrow-line region. We explore the kinematics of the narrow-line low- and high-velocity components on the basis of our spectroscopy and adopted model structure.

Discovery of KELU-1 Promises New Insights into Strange Objects Brown Dwarfs are star-like objects which are too small to become real stars, yet too large to be real planets. Their mass is too small to ignite those nuclear processes which are responsible for the large energies and high temperatures of stars, but it is much larger than that of the planets we know in our solar system. Until now, very few Brown Dwarfs have been securely identified as such. Two are members of double-star systems, and a few more are located deep within the Pleiades star cluster. Now, however, Maria Teresa Ruiz of the Astronomy Department at Universidad de Chile (Santiago de Chile), using telescopes at the ESO La Silla observatory, has just discovered one that is all alone and apparently quite near to us. Contrary to the others which are influenced by other objects in their immediate surroundings, this new Brown Dwarf is unaffected and will thus be a perfect object for further investigations that may finally allow us to better understand these very interesting celestial bodies. It has been suggested that Brown Dwarfs may constitute a substantial part of the unseen dark matter in our Galaxy. This discovery may therefore also have important implications for this highly relevant research area. Searching for nearby faint stars The story of this discovery goes back to 1987 when Maria Teresa Ruiz decided to embark upon a long-term search (known as the Calan-ESO proper-motion survey ) for another type of unusual object, the so-called White Dwarfs , i.e. highly evolved, small and rather faint stars. Although they have masses similar to that of the Sun, such stars are no larger than the Earth and are therefore extremely compact. They are particularly interesting, because they most probably represent the future end point of evolution of our Sun, some billions of years from now. For this project, the Chilean astronomer obtained large-field photographic exposures with the 1-m ESO Schmidt telescope at

Rotation-curve profiles are used to determine the dark-to-luminous mass ratio within the disk size for 43 spiral galaxies. It is noted that faintgalaxies are halo-dominated and that bright galaxies are disk-dominated in the disk regions. The luminosity sequence is shown to be a dark-to-luminous sequence. By removing the dark-matter contribution from the velocity at the disk edge, the dispersion affecting the luminosity-kinematics relation is found to decrease in comparison with the conventional Tully-Fisher correlation.

We present SELFI, the Source Emission Line FInder, a new Bayesian method optimized for detection of faintgalaxies in Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) deep fields. MUSE is the new panoramic integral field spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) that has unique capabilities for spectroscopic investigation of the deep sky. It has provided data cubes with 324 million voxels over a single 1 arcmin2 field of view. To address the challenge of faint-galaxy detection in these large data cubes, we developed a new method that processes 3D data either for modeling or for estimation and extraction of source configurations. This object-based approach yields a natural sparse representation of the sources in massive data fields, such as MUSE data cubes. In the Bayesian framework, the parameters that describe the observed sources are considered random variables. The Bayesian model leads to a general and robust algorithm where the parameters are estimated in a fully data-driven way. This detection algorithm was applied to the MUSE observation of Hubble Deep Field-South. With 27 h total integration time, these observations provide a catalog of 189 sources of various categories and with secured redshift. The algorithm retrieved 91% of the galaxies with only 9% false detection. This method also allowed the discovery of three new Lyα emitters and one [OII] emitter, all without any Hubble Space Telescope counterpart. We analyzed the reasons for failure for some targets, and found that the most important limitation of the method is when faint sources are located in the vicinity of bright spatially resolved galaxies that cannot be approximated by the Sérsic elliptical profile. The software and its documentation are available on the MUSE science web service (muse-vlt.eu/science).

Provides background information on radio galaxies. Topic areas addressed include: what produces the radio emission; radio telescopes; locating radio galaxies; how distances to radio galaxies are found; physics of radio galaxies; computer simulations of radio galaxies; and the evolution of radio galaxies with cosmic time. (JN)

By modelling the axis ratio distribution of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8 galaxies, we find the intrinsic 3D shapes of spirals and ellipticals. We use morphological information from the Galaxy Zoo project and assume a non-parametric distribution intrinsic of shapes, while taking into account dust extinction. We measure the dust extinction of the full sample of spiral galaxies and find a smaller value than previous estimations, with an edge-on extinction of E_0 = 0.284^{+0.015}_{-0.026} in the SDSS r band. We also find that the distribution of minor to major axis ratio has a mean value of 0.267 ± 0.009, slightly larger than previous estimates mainly due to the lower extinction used; the same affects the circularity of galactic discs, which are found to be less round in shape than in previous studies, with a mean ellipticity of 0.215 ± 0.013. For elliptical galaxies, we find that the minor to major axis ratio, with a mean value of 0.584 ± 0.006, is larger than previous estimations due to the removal of spiral interlopers present in samples with morphological information from photometric profiles. These interlopers are removed when selecting ellipticals using Galaxy Zoo data. We find that the intrinsic shapes of galaxies and their dust extinction vary with absolute magnitude, colour and physical size. We find that bright elliptical galaxies are more spherical than faint ones, a trend that is also present with galaxy size, and that there is no dependence of elliptical galaxy shape with colour. For spiral galaxies, we find that the reddest ones have higher dust extinction as expected, due to the fact that this reddening is mainly due to dust. We also find that the thickness of discs increases with luminosity and size, and that brighter, smaller and redder galaxies have less round discs.

We present the first time-series study of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Hercules. Using a variety of telescope/instrument facilities we secured about 50 V and 80 B epochs. These data allowed us to detect and characterize 10 pulsating variable stars in Hercules. Our final sample includes six fundamental-mode (ab-type) and three first-overtone (c-type) RR Lyrae stars, and one Anomalous Cepheid. The average period of the ab-type RR Lyrae stars, langP abrang = 0.68 days (σ = 0.03 days), places Hercules in the Oosterhoff II group, as found for almost the totality of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxies investigated so far for variability. The RR Lyrae stars were used to obtain independent estimates of the metallicity, reddening, and distance to Hercules, for which we find [Fe/H] = -2.30 ± 0.15 dex, E(B - V) = 0.09 ± 0.02 mag, and (m - M)0 = 20.6 ± 0.1 mag, in good agreement with the literature values. We have obtained a V, B - V color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of Hercules that reaches V ~ 25 mag and extends beyond the galaxy's half-light radius over a total area of 40' × 36'. The CMD and the RR Lyrae stars indicate the presence of a population as old and metal-poor as (at least) the Galactic globular cluster M68. Based on data collected at the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain, at the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope, Roche de los Muchachos, Canary Islands, Spain, at the 2.2 m ESO/MPI telescope, La Silla, Chile, Proposal 079.D-0587, at the 2 m Liverpool Telescope, Roche de los Muchachos, Canary Islands, Spain, and at the 2 m Faulkes Telescope North, Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, USA.

How did the early Earth remain warm despite weak solar luminosity? The faint young Sun paradox has stubbornly resisted a self-consistent solution since it was first introduced by Sagan and Mullen [1] over four decades ago. However, recent revisions to expected paleo-ocean temperatures [2, 3] along with new results from three-dimensional climate models [4] may allow this long standing problem to be finally put to rest. Here we use a modified version of the Community Atmosphere Model version 3 from the National Center for Atmospheric Research to study early climate. We find that resolving the faint young Sun paradox becomes less problematic when viewing a full representation of the climate system. For the late Archean climate (80% solar constant), relatively modest amounts of CO2 (≤0.02 bar) and CH4 (0.001 bar) yield surface temperatures equal to the present day with no other alterations to climate. Cooler climates with large ice caps but with temperate tropical regions can be supported with considerably smaller greenhouse gas burdens. The incorporation of systematic climate system elements expected for the Archean such as fewer cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) [5], reduced land albedos [5], and an increased atmospheric inventory of N2 [6], can provide a combined 10 to 20 K of additional surface warming given reasonable assumptions. With the inclusion of 0.001 bar of CH4, 2 PAL of N2, reduced land albedos, and reduced CCN, present day mean surface temperatures can be maintained for the earliest Archean (75% solar constant) with only ~0.01 bar of CO2. However, lower requirements for atmospheric CO2 may imply that photochemical hazes were frequent during the Archean. [1] Sagan, C., & Mullen, G. Science 177, 52 (1972) [2] Hren, M.T., Tice, M.M., & Chamberlin, C.P. Nature 462, 205 (2009) [3] Blake. R.E., Chang, S.J., & Lepland, A. Nature 464, 1029 (2010) [4] Wolf, E.T., & Toon, O.B. Astrobiology 13(7), 1 (2013) [5] Rosing, M.T., Bird, D.K., Sleep, N.H., & Bjerrum, C

Context. Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are characterised by relatively high radio flux densities and associated faint or even absent infrared and optical counterparts. The resulting extremely high radio-to-infrared flux density ratios up to several thousands were previously known only for high-redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs), suggesting a link between the two classes of object. However, the optical and infrared faintness of IFRS makes their study difficult. Prior to this work, no redshift was known for any IFRS in the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS) fields which would help to put IFRS in the context of other classes of object, especially of HzRGs. Aims: This work aims at measuring the first redshifts of IFRS in the ATLAS fields. Furthermore, we test the hypothesis that IFRS are similar to HzRGs, that they are higher-redshift or dust-obscured versions of these massive galaxies. Methods: A sample of IFRS was spectroscopically observed using the Focal Reducer and Low Dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The data were calibrated based on the Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) and redshifts extracted from the final spectra, where possible. This information was then used to calculate rest-frame luminosities, and to perform the first spectral energy distribution modelling of IFRS based on redshifts. Results: We found redshifts of 1.84, 2.13, and 2.76, for three IFRS, confirming the suggested high-redshift character of this class of object. These redshifts and the resulting luminosities show IFRS to be similar to HzRGs, supporting our hypothesis. We found further evidence that fainter IFRS are at even higher redshifts. Conclusions: Considering the similarities between IFRS and HzRGs substantiated in this work, the detection of IFRS, which have a significantly higher sky density than HzRGs, increases the number of active galactic nuclei in the early universe and adds to the problems of explaining the formation of

The significant improvement in bandwidth and the resultant sensitivity offered by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) allows us to explore the faint radio source population. Through the study of the radio continuum we can explore the spectral indices of these radio sources. Robust radio spectral indices are needed for accurate k-corrections, for example in the study of the radio - far-infrared (FIR) correlation. We present an analysis of measuring spectral indices using two different approaches. In the first, we use the standard wideband imaging algorithm in the data reduction package CASA. In the second, we use a traditional approach of imaging narrower bandwidths to derive the spectral indices. For these, we simulated data to match the observing parameter space of the CHILES Con Pol survey (Hales et al. 2014). We investigate the accuracy and precision of spectral index measurements as a function of signal-to noise, and explore the requirements to reliably probe possible evolution of the radio-FIR correlation in CHILES Con Pol.

There have been extensive optical surveys for debris at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) conducted with meter-class telescopes, such as those conducted with MODEST (the Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope, a 0.6-m telescope located at Cerro Tololo in Chile), and the European Space Agency's 1.0-m space debris telescope (SDT) in the Canary Islands. These surveys have detection limits in the range of 18th or 19th magnitude, which corresponds to sizes larger than 10 cm assuming an albedo of 0.175. All of these surveys reveal a substantial population of objects fainter than R = 15th magnitude that are not in the public U.S. Satellite Catalog. To detect objects fainter than 20th magnitude (and presumably smaller than 10 cm) in the visible requires a larger telescope and excellent imaging conditions. This combination is available in Chile. NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office has begun collecting orbital debris observations with the 6.5-m (21.3-ft diameter) "Walter Baade" Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. The goal is to detect objects as faint as possible from a ground-based observatory and begin to understand the brightness distribution of GEO debris fainter than R = 20th magnitude.

We investigate the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies in a high-resolution, hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of a Milky Way sized halo and its environment. Our simulation includes gas cooling, star formation, supernova feedback, metal enrichment and ultraviolet heating. In total, 90 satellites and more than 400 isolated dwarf galaxies are formed in the simulation, allowing a systematic study of the internal and environmental processes that determine their evolution. We find that 95 per cent of satellite galaxies are gas free at z= 0, and identify three mechanisms for gas loss: supernova feedback, tidal stripping and photoevaporation due to re-ionization. Gas-rich satellite galaxies are only found with total masses above ˜5 × 109 M⊙. In contrast, for isolated dwarf galaxies, a total mass of ˜109 M⊙ constitutes a sharp transition; less massive galaxies are predominantly gas free at z= 0, more massive, isolated dwarf galaxies are often able to retain their gas. In general, we find that the total mass of a dwarf galaxy is the main factor which determines its star formation, metal enrichment and its gas content, but that stripping may explain the observed difference in gas content between field dwarf galaxies and satellites with total masses close to 109 M⊙. We also find that a morphological transformation via tidal stripping of infalling, luminous dwarf galaxies whose dark matter is less concentrated than their stars cannot explain the high total mass-to-light ratios of the faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Theoretical modelling of the evolution of classical and recurrent novae plays an important role in studies of binary evolution, nucleosynthesis and accretion physics. However, from a theoretical perspective the observed statistical properties of novae remain poorly understood. In this paper, we have produced model populations of novae using a hybrid binary population synthesis approach for differing star formation histories (SFHs): a starburst case (elliptical-like galaxies), a constant star formation rate case (spiral-like galaxies) and a composite case (in line with the inferred SFH for M31). We found that the nova rate at 10 Gyr in an elliptical-like galaxy is ˜10-20 times smaller than a spiral-like galaxy with the same mass. The majority of novae in elliptical-like galaxies at the present epoch are characterized by low-mass white dwarfs (WDs), long decay times, relatively faint absolute magnitudes and long recurrence periods. In contrast, the majority of novae in spiral-like galaxies at 10 Gyr have massive WDs, short decay times, are relatively bright and have short recurrence periods. The mass-loss time distribution for novae in our M31-like galaxy is in agreement with observational data for Andromeda. However, it is possible that we underestimate the number of bright novae in our model. This may arise in part due to the present uncertainties in the appropriate bolometric correction for novae.

Extremely metal-poor galaxies (XMPs) and the star-formation within their chemically pristine environments are fundamental to our understanding of the galaxy formation process at early times. However, traditional emission-line surveys detect only the brightest metal-poor galaxies where star-formation occurs in compact, starbursting environments, and thereby give us only a partial view of the dwarf galaxy population. To avoid such biases, we have developed a new search algorithm based on the morphological, rather then spectral, properties of XMPs and have applied to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database of images. Using this novel approach, we have discovered ~100 previously undetected, faint blue galaxies, each with isolated HII regions embedded in a diffuse continuum. In this talk I will present the first results from follow-up optical spectroscopy of this sample, which reveals these blue diffuse dwarfs (BDDs) to be young, very metal-poor and actively forming stars despite their intrinsically low luminosities. I will present evidence showing that BDDs appear to bridge the gap between quiescent dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxies and blue compact galaxies (BCDs) and as such offer an ideal opportunity to assess how star-formation occurs in more `normal' metal-poor systems.

Aims: Decameter radio observations of the solar corona reveal the presence of numerous faint frequency drifting emissions, similar to “solar S bursts” which are reported in the literature. We present a statistical analysis of the characteristics of these emissions and propose a mechanism to excite the Langmuir waves thought to be at the origin of these emissions. Methods: The observations were performed between 1998 and 2002 with the Digital Spectro Polarimeter (DSP) receivers operated at the UTR-2 and Nançay decameter radio telescopes in the frequency range 15-30 MHz. Our theoretical explanation is based on Vlasov-Ampère simulations. Results: Based on the frequency drift rate, three populations of structures can be identified. The largest population presents an average negative frequency drift of -0.9 MHz s-1 and a lifetime up to 11 s (median value of 2.72 s). A second population shows a very small frequency drift of -0.1 MHz s-1 and a short lifetime of about 1 s. The third population presents an average positive frequency drift of +0.95 MHz s-1 and a lifetime of up to 3 s. Also, the frequency drift as a function of frequency is consistent with the former results, which present results in higher frequency range. No specific relationship was found between the occurrence of these emissions and the solar cycle or presence of flares. Assuming that these emissions are produced by “electron clouds” propagating the solar corona, we deduce electron velocities of about 3-5 times the electron thermal velocity. As previously shown, a localized, time-dependent modulation of the electron distribution function (heating) leads to low velocity electron clouds (consistent with observations), which, in turn, can generate Langmuir waves and electromagnetic signals by nonlinear processes.

We investigate the role which clouds could play in resolving the Faint Young Sun Paradox (FYSP). Lower solar luminosity in the past means that less energy was absorbed on Earth (a forcing of -50 W m-2 during the late Archean), but geological evidence points to the Earth having been at least as warm as it is today, with only very occasional glaciations. We perform radiative calculations on a single global mean atmospheric column. We select a nominal set of three layered, randomly overlapping clouds, which are both consistent with observed cloud climatologies and reproduced the observed global mean energy budget of Earth. By varying the fraction, thickness, height and particle size of these clouds we conduct a wide exploration of how changed clouds could affect climate, thus constraining how clouds could contribute to resolving the FYSP. Low clouds reflect sunlight but have little greenhouse effect. Removing them entirely gives a forcing of +25 W m-2 whilst more modest reduction in their efficacy gives a forcing of +10 to +15 W m-2. For high clouds, the greenhouse effect dominates. It is possible to generate +50 W m-2 forcing from enhancing these, but this requires making them 3.5 times thicker and 14 K colder than the standard high cloud in our nominal set and expanding their coverage to 100% of the sky. Such changes are not credible. More plausible changes would generate no more than +15 W m-2 forcing. Thus neither fewer low clouds nor more high clouds can provide enough forcing to resolve the FYSP. Decreased surface albedo can contribute no more than +5 W m-2 forcing. Some models which have been applied to the FYSP do not include clouds at all. These overestimate the forcing due to increased CO2 by 20 to 25% when pCO2 is 0.01 to 0.1 bar.

Examples of scientific observing programs planned with the Faint Object Spectrograph on Space Telescope are presented. An overview of the spectrograph design and operation is presented. The expected astronomical performance of the instrument is described in some detail.

We present the faint end of number counts at 1.3 mm (238 GHz) obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Band 6 observations were carried out targeting 20 star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1.4 in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey field. In the observations, we serendipitously detect 15 sources (≥3.8σ, S{sub 1.3} {sub mm} = 0.15-0.61 mJy) other than the targeted sources. We create number counts by using these ''sub-mJy sources'', which probe the faintest flux range among surveys at millimeter wavelengths. The number counts are consistent with (flux-scaled) number counts at 850 μm and 870 μm obtained with gravitational lensing clusters. The ALMA number counts agree well with model predictions, which suggest that these sub-mJy populations are more like ''normal'' star-forming galaxies than ''classical'' submillimeter galaxies with intense star-forming activity. In this flux range, ∼80% of the extragalactic background light at 1.3 mm is resolved into individual sources.

We present results from the first 12 months of operation of Radio Galaxy Zoo, which upon completion will enable visual inspection of over 170 000 radio sources to determine the host galaxy of the radio emission and the radio morphology. Radio Galaxy Zoo uses 1.4 GHz radio images from both the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty Centimeters (FIRST) and the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS) in combination with mid-infrared images at 3.4 μm from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and at 3.6 μm from the Spitzer Space Telescope. We present the early analysis of the WISE mid-infrared colours of the host galaxies. For images in which there is >75 per cent consensus among the Radio Galaxy Zoo cross-identifications, the project participants are as effective as the science experts at identifying the host galaxies. The majority of the identified host galaxies reside in the mid-infrared colour space dominated by elliptical galaxies, quasi-stellar objects and luminous infrared radio galaxies. We also find a distinct population of Radio Galaxy Zoo host galaxies residing in a redder mid-infrared colour space consisting of star-forming galaxies and/or dust-enhanced non-star-forming galaxies consistent with a scenario of merger-driven active galactic nuclei (AGN) formation. The completion of the full Radio Galaxy Zoo project will measure the relative populations of these hosts as a function of radio morphology and power while providing an avenue for the identification of rare and extreme radio structures. Currently, we are investigating candidates for radio galaxies with extreme morphologies, such as giant radio galaxies, late-type host galaxies with extended radio emission and hybrid morphology radio sources.

Small portion of the Hubble Deep Field image -- the deepest view of the universe taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Arrow points to a very faintgalaxy that appears to be more distant than any known previously. Other galaxies in the image are at smaller distances. Credit: Ken Lanzetta and Amos Yahil (State University of New York at Stony Brook), and NASA

There is compelling evidence that galaxy-scale outflows may be a primary regulator of star formation in galaxies and chemical enrichment of the IGM. The increasing contribution of UV-faint (sub-L^ast) galaxies to the luminosity density at z⪆ 2 suggests that these uninvestigated faintgalaxies may play a large role in the global effects of feedback and metal enrichment. We propose to take advantage of the unique capabilities of Keck-I/LRIS to spectroscopically target a sample of faintgalaxies with luminosities that are 10× smaller than those probed in current outflow studies. We will use these data to measure redshifts that will then be cross-correlated with metal (CIV) absorption line systems along QSO sight-lines to determine the extent to which faintgalaxies contribute to IGM enrichment. We will compare the correlation lengths and column densities of systems associated with galaxies over a large dynamic range in luminosity to investigate the relative efficiency of feedback as a function of luminosity and impact parameter. Ultimately, this investigation will shed critical light on the feedback processes that govern the baryonic evolution of galaxies over a wide range of luminosity.

We present the discovery of a faint Milky Way satellite, Laevens 2/Triangulum II, found in the Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System 3π imaging data and confirmed with follow-up wide-field photometry from the Large Binocular Cameras. The stellar system, with an absolute magnitude of MV = -1.8 ± 0.5, a heliocentric distance of 30-2+2 kpc, and a half-mass-radius of 34-8+9 pc, shows remarkable similarity to faint, nearby, small satellites such as Willman 1, Segue 1, Segue 2, and Boötes II. The discovery of Laevens 2/Triangulum II further populates the region of parameter space for which the boundary between dwarf galaxies and globular clusters becomes tenuous. Follow-up spectroscopy will ultimately determine the nature of this new satellite, whose spatial location hints at a possible connection with the complex Triangulum-Andromeda stellar structures. The LBT is an international collaboration among institutions in the United States, Italy, and Germany. LBT Corporation partners are The University of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona university system; Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy; LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft, Germany, representing the Max-Planck Society, the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, and Heidelberg University; The Ohio State University, and The Research Corporation, on behalf of The University of Notre Dame, University of Minnesota, and University of Virginia.

Modern observational techniques, developed for spectroscopy and photometry of faintgalaxies and quasars, successfully applied to faint comets on the 2.7 m telescope. The periodic comets Van Biesbrock, Ashbrook-Jackson, Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, Tempel 2, Encke, Forbes, Brooks 2, Stephan-Oterma and the new comets Bradfield (19791), Bowell (1980b), Chernis-Petrauskas (1980k) were observed. The comets ranged in magnitude from 10th to 20th magnitude. For comets fainter than 19th magnitude, reflectance spectra at 100A resolution and area photometry were obtained. On comets of 17th or 18th magnitude, spectrometric scans (6A resolution) of the nucleus or inner coma region. On those comets which are brighter than 16th magnitude spatial spectrophotometric (6A resolution) studies of the inner and extended comae were done. An extensive spatial study of the comae of P/Encke and P/Stephen-Oterma, correlated with heliocentric distance is taking place. The observing process used is described and examples of the results obtained to date are discussed.

We report the discovery of a new ultra-faint globular cluster in the constellation of Ursa Minor, based on stellar photometry from the MegaCam imager at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. We find that this cluster, Munoz 1, is located at a distance of 45 {+-} 5 kpc and at a projected distance of only 45' from the center of the Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Using a maximum-likelihood technique we measure a half-light radius of 0.'5, or equivalently 7 pc, and an ellipticity consistent with being zero. We estimate its absolute magnitude to be M{sub V} -0.4 {+-} 0.9, which corresponds to L{sub V} = 120{sup +160}{sub -65} L{sub Sun} and we measure a heliocentric radial velocity of -137 {+-} 4 km s{sup -1} based on Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy. This new satellite is separate from Ursa Minor by {approx}30 kpc and 110 km s{sup -1} suggesting the cluster is not obviously associated with the dSph, despite the very close angular separation. Based on its photometric properties and structural parameters we conclude that Munoz 1 is a new ultra-faint stellar cluster. Along with Segue 3 this is one of the faintest stellar clusters known to date.

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Visible/DSS Click on image for larger version Ultraviolet/GALEX Click on image for larger version Poster Version Click on image for larger version

The unique ultraviolet vision of NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer reveals, for the first time, dwarf galaxies forming out of nothing more than pristine gas likely leftover from the early universe. Dwarf galaxies are relatively small collections of stars that often orbit around larger galaxies like our Milky Way.

The forming dwarf galaxies shine in the far ultraviolet spectrum, rendered as blue in the call-out on the right hand side of this image. Near ultraviolet light, also obtained by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, is displayed in green, and visible light from the blue part of the spectrum here is represented by red. The clumps (in circles) are distinctively blue, indicating they are primarily detected in far ultraviolet light.

The faint blue overlay traces the outline of the Leo Ring, a huge cloud of hydrogen and helium that orbits around two massive galaxies in the constellation Leo (left panel). The cloud is thought likely to be a primordial object, an ancient remnant of material that has remained relatively unchanged since the very earliest days of the universe. Identified about 25 years ago by radio waves, the ring cannot be seen in visible light.

Only a portion of the Leo Ring has been imaged in the ultraviolet, but this section contains the telltale ultraviolet signature of recent massive star formation within this ring of pristine gas. Astronomers have previously only seen dwarf galaxies form out of gas that has already been cycled through a galaxy and enriched with metals elements heavier than helium produced as stars evolve.

The visible data come from the Digitized Sky Survey of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. The

This troupe of four galaxies, known as Hickson Compact Group 87 (HCG 87), is performing an intricate dance orchestrated by the mutual gravitational forces acting between them. The dance is a slow, graceful minuet, occurring over a time span of hundreds of millions of years. The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) provides a striking improvement in resolution over previous ground-based imaging. In particular, this image reveals complex details in the dust lanes of the group's largest galaxy member (HCG 87a), which is actually disk-shaped, but tilted so that we see it nearly edge-on. Both 87a and its elliptically shaped nearest neighbor (87b) have active galactic nuclei which are believed to harbor black holes that are consuming gas. A third group member, the nearby spiral galaxy 87c, may be undergoing a burst of active star formation. Gas flows within galaxies can be intensified by the gravitational tidal forces between interacting galaxies. So interactions can provide fresh fuel for both active nuclei and starburst phenomena. These three galaxies are so close to each other that gravitational forces disrupt their structure and alter their evolution. From the analysis of its spectra, the small spiral near the center of the group could either be a fourth member or perhaps an unrelated background object. The HST image was made by combining images taken in four different color filters in order to create a three-color picture. Regions of active star formation are blue (hot stars) and also pinkish if hot hydrogen gas is present. The complex dark bands across the large edge-on disk galaxy are due to interstellar dust silhouetted against the galaxy's background starlight. A faint tidal bridge of stars can be seen between the edge-on and elliptical galaxies. HCG 87 was selected for Hubble imaging by members of the public who visited the Hubble Heritage website (http://heritage.stsci.edu) during the month of May and registered their votes

Kim 1 & 2 are two new star clusters discovered in the Stromlo Missing Satellite Survey. Kim 1, located at a heliocentric distance of 19.8 +/- 0.9 kpc, features an extremely low total luminosity (M V = 0.3 +/- 0.5 mag) and low star concentration. Together with the large ellipticity (ɛ = 0.42 +/- 0.10) and irregular isophotes, these properties suggest that Kim 1 is an intermediate mass star cluster being stripped by the Galactic tidal field. Kim 2 is a rare ultra-faint outer halo globular cluster located at a heliocentric distance of 104.7 +/- 4.1 kpc. The cluster exhibits evidence of significant mass loss such as extra-tidal stars and mass-segregation. Kim 2 is likely to follow an orbit confined to the peripheral region of the Galactic halo, and/or to have formed in a dwarf galaxy that was later accreted into the Galactic halo.

The on-orbit performance of the HST + FOS instrument is described and illustrated with examples of initial scientific results. The effects of the spherical aberration from the misfiguring of the HST primary mirror upon isolated point sources and in complex fields such as the nuclei of galaxies are analyzed. Possible means for eliminating the effects of spherical aberration are studied. Concepts include using image enhancement software to extract maximum spatial and spectral information from the existing data as well as several options to repair or compensate for the HST's optical performance. In particular, it may be possible to install corrective optics into the HST which will eliminate the spherical aberration for the FOS and some of the other instruments. The more promising ideas and calculations of the expected improvements in performance are briefly described.

One of the deepest images to date of the universe, taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST), reveals thousands of faintgalaxies at the detection limit of present day telescopes. Peering across a large volume of the observable cosmos, Hubble resolves thousands of galaxies from five to twelve billion light-years away. The light from these remote objects has taken billions of years to cross the expanding universe, making these distant galaxies fossil evidence' of events that happened when the universe was one-third its present age. A fraction of the galaxies in this image belong to a cluster located nine billion light-years away. Though the field of view (at the cluster's distance) is only two million light-years across, it contains a multitude of fragmentary objects. (By comparison, the two million light-years between our Milky Way galaxy and its nearest large companion galaxy, in the constellation Andromeda, is essentially empty space!) Very few of the cluster's members are recognizable as normal spiral galaxies (like our Milky Way), although some elongated members might be edge-on disks. Among this zoo of odd galaxies are ``tadpole-like'' objects, disturbed and apparently merging systems dubbed 'train-wrecks,' and a multitude of faint, tiny shards and fragments, dwarf galaxies or possibly an unknown population of objects. However, the cluster also contains red galaxies that resemble mature examples of today's elliptical galaxies. Their red color comes from older stars that must have formed shortly after the Big Bang. The image is the full field view of the Wide Field and Planetary Camera-2. The picture was taken in intervals between May 11 and June 15, 1994 and required an 18-hour long exposure, over 32 orbits of HST, to reveal objects down to 29th magnitude. [bottom right] A close up view of the peculiar radio galaxy 3C324 used to locate the cluster. The galaxy is nine billion light-years away as measured by its spectral redshift (z=1.2), and located in the

Galaxy clusters' structure, dominated by dark matter, is traced by member galaxies in the optical and hot intracluster medium (ICM) in X-rays. We compare the radial distribution of these components and determine the mass-to-light ratio versus system mass relation. We use 14 clusters from the REXCESS sample which is representative of clusters detected in X-ray surveys. Photometric observations with the Wide Field Imager on the 2.2 m Max-Planck-Gesellschaft/European Southern Observatory telescope are used to determine the number density profiles of the galaxy distribution out to r200. These are compared to electron density profiles of the ICM obtained using XMM-Newton, and dark matter profiles inferred from scaling relations and a Navarro-Frenk-White model. While red sequence galaxies trace the total matter profile, the blue galaxy distribution is much shallower. We see a deficit of faintgalaxies in the central regions of massive and regular clusters, and strong suppression of bright and faint blue galaxies in the centres of cool-core clusters, attributable to ram pressure stripping of gas from blue galaxies in high-density regions of ICM and disruption of faintgalaxies due to galaxy interactions. We find a mass-to-light ratio versus mass relation within r200 of (3.0 ± 0.4) × 10^2 h M_{⊙} L_{⊙}^{-1} at 1015 M⊙ with slope 0.16 ± 0.14, consistent with most previous results.

Using high-resolution, multiple-passband Hubble Space Telescope images spanning the entire optical/near-infrared wavelength range, we obtained a statistically complete U-band-selected sample of 846 extended star clusters across the disk of the nearby starburst galaxyM82. Based on a careful analysis of the clusters' spectral energy distributions, we determined their galaxy-wide age and mass distributions. The M82 clusters exhibit three clear peaks in their age distribution, thus defining relatively young, log (t yr{sup –1}) ≤ 7.5, intermediate-age, log (t yr{sup –1}) in [7.5, 8.5], and old samples, log (t yr{sup –1}) ≥ 8.5. Comparison of the completeness-corrected mass distributions offers a firm handle on the galaxy's star cluster disruption history. The most massive star clusters in the young and old samples are (almost) all concentrated in the most densely populated central region, while the intermediate-age sample's most massive clusters are more spatially dispersed, which may reflect the distribution of the highest-density gas throughout the galaxy's evolutionary history, combined with the solid-body nature of the galaxy's central region.

We have analyzed optically bright, X-ray-faint [OBXF; i.e., log(fX/fR)galaxies having HST imaging data. The OBXF population consists mainly of normal and starburst galaxies detected out to cosmologically significant distances (i.e., to a median redshift of z=0.297 and a full redshift range z=0.06-0.845). This is notable since these distances equate to look-back times of up to ~8 Gyr; we are thus provided with a window on the X-ray emission from galaxies at redshifts much closer to the cosmic star formation peak than was possible prior to the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The X-ray luminosity distribution of OBXF sources extends to higher luminosity than does that of ``normal'' galaxies, indicating that a significant fraction are likely dominated by low-luminosity active galactic nuclei or vigorous star formation. The lowest redshift galaxies (z~0.06-0.2) have very low X-ray-to-optical flux ratios [i.e., log(fX/fR)galaxies in the local universe. By combining the detected X-ray counts, we find the average OBXF X-ray spectrum to be consistent with a Γ~2.0 power law. The 0.5-2 keV logN-logS for the OBXF galaxies is much steeper (α~-1.7) than for the general X-ray source population. Indeed, the number of OBXF sources has doubled between the 1 and 2 Ms surveys, rising sharply in numbers at faint fluxes. The extragalactic OBXF sources are found to

helium as "heavy elements". [2] By carefully splitting up the faint light coming from a galaxy into its component colours using powerful telescopes and spectrographs, astronomers can identify the fingerprints of different chemicals in remote galaxies, and measure the amounts of heavy elements present. With the SINFONI instrument on the VLT astronomers can go one better and get a separate spectrum for each part of an object. This allows them to make a map that shows the quantity of heavy elements present in different parts of a galaxy and also determine where in the galaxy star formation is occurring most vigorously. More information This research was presented in a paper, Gas accretion in distant galaxies as the origin of chemical abundance gradients, by Cresci et al., to appear in Nature on 14 October 2010. The team is composed of G. Cresci (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Italy), F. Mannucci (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Italy), R. Maiolino (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Italy), A. Marconi (Universitá di Firenze, Italy), A. Gnerucci (Universitá di Firenze, Italy) and L. Magrini (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Italy). ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible

Six spectacular spiral galaxies are seen in a clear new light in images from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The pictures were taken in infrared light, using the impressive power of the HAWK-I camera, and will help astronomers understand how the remarkable spiral patterns in galaxies form and evolve. HAWK-I [1] is one of the newest and most powerful cameras on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). It is sensitive to infrared light, which means that much of the obscuring dust in the galaxies' spiral arms becomes transparent to its detectors. Compared to the earlier, and still much-used, VLT infrared camera ISAAC, HAWK-I has sixteen times as many pixels to cover a much larger area of sky in one shot and, by using newer technology than ISAAC, it has a greater sensitivity to faint infrared radiation [2]. Because HAWK-I can study galaxies stripped bare of the confusing effects of dust and glowing gas it is ideal for studying the vast numbers of stars that make up spiral arms. The six galaxies are part of a study of spiral structure led by Preben Grosbøl at ESO. These data were acquired to help understand the complex and subtle ways in which the stars in these systems form into such perfect spiral patterns. The first image shows NGC 5247, a spiral galaxy dominated by two huge arms, located 60-70 million light-years away. The galaxy lies face-on towards Earth, thus providing an excellent view of its pinwheel structure. It lies in the zodiacal constellation of Virgo (the Maiden). The galaxy in the second image is Messier 100, also known as NGC 4321, which was discovered in the 18th century. It is a fine example of a "grand design" spiral galaxy - a class of galaxies with very prominent and well-defined spiral arms. About 55 million light-years from Earth, Messier 100 is part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and lies in the constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair, named after the ancient Egyptian queen Berenice II). The third

We investigate for the first time the effects of a warm dark matter (WDM) power spectrum on the statistical properties of galaxies using a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. The WDM spectrum we adopt as a reference case is suppressed - compared to the standard cold dark matter (CDM) case - below a cut-off scale ≈1 Mpc corresponding (for thermal relic WDM particles) to a mass mX= 0.75 keV. This ensures consistency with present bounds provided by the microwave background Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data and by the comparison of hydrodynamical N-body simulations with observed Lyman-α forest. We run our fiducial semi-analytic model with such a WDM spectrum to derive galaxy luminosity functions (in B, UV and K bands) and the stellar mass distributions over a wide range of cosmic epochs, to compare with recent observations and with the results in the CDM case. The predicted colour distribution of galaxies in the WDM model is also checked against the data. When compared with the standard CDM case, the luminosity and stellar mass distributions we obtain assuming a WDM spectrum are characterized by (i) flattening of the faint-end slope and (ii) sharpening of the cut-off at the bright end for z≲ 0.8. We discuss how the former result is directly related to the smaller number of low-mass haloes collapsing in the WDM scenario, while the latter is related to the smaller number of satellite galaxies accumulating in massive haloes at a low redshift, thus suppressing the accretion of small lumps on the central, massive galaxies. These results shows how adopting a WDM power spectrum may contribute to solving two major problems of CDM galaxy formation scenarios, namely, the excess of predicted faint (low-mass) galaxies at low and - most of all - high redshifts, and the excess of bright (massive) galaxies at low redshifts.

High quality gamma-ray and radio observations of nearby galaxies offer an unprecedented opportunity to quantitatively study the properties of their cosmic ray populations. Accounting for various interactions and energy losses, I developed a multi-component, single-zone model of the cosmic ray populations in the central molecular zones of star-forming galaxies. Using observational knowledge of the interstellar medium and star formation, I successfully predicted the radio, gamma-ray, and neutrino spectra for nearby starbursts. Using chi-squared tests to compare the models with observational radio and gamma-ray data, I placed constraints on magnetic field strengths, cosmic ray energy densities, and galactic wind (advection) speeds. The initial models were applied to and tested on the prototypical starburst galaxyM82. To further test the model and to explore the differences in environment between starbursts and active galactic nuclei, I studied NGC 253 and NGC 1068, both nearby giant spiral galaxies which have been detected in gamma-rays. Additionally, I demonstrated that the excess GeV energy gamma-ray emission in the Galactic Center is likely not diffuse emission from an additional population of cosmic rays accelerated in supernova remnants. Lastly, I investigated cosmic ray populations in the starburst nuclei of Arp 220, a nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxy which displays a high-intensity mode of star formation more common in young galaxies, and I showed that the nuclei are efficient cosmic-ray proton calorimeters.

The installation of WFC3 on the Hubble Space Telescope pushed the frontier of high-redshift galaxy studies to only 500 Myr after the Big Bang. However, observations in this epoch remain challenging and are limited to the brightest galaxies; the fainter sources believed to be responsible for reionizing the Universe remain beyond the grasp of Hubble. With gravitational lensing, however, we can benefit from the magnification of faint sources, which brings them within reach of today's telescopes. The Hubble Frontier Fields program is a deep survey of strongly lensing clusters observed in the optical and near-infrared. Unfortunately, detecting highly magnified, intrinsically faintgalaxies in these fields has proved challenging due to the bright foregound cluster galaxies and intracluster light. We have developed a technique using wavelet decomposition to overcome these difficulties and detect galaxies at z~7 with intrinsic UV magnitudes as faint as MUV = -13. We present this method and the resulting luminosity functions, which support a steep faint-end slope extending out to the observational limits. Our method has uncovered hundreds of galaxies at z > 6 fainter than any that have been seen before, providing our first insight into the small galaxy population during the epoch of reionization and a preview of the capabilities of JWST.

Aims: We investigate the evolution of bright and faintgalaxies in fossil and non-fossil groups. Methods: We used mock galaxies constructed based on the Millennium run simulation II. We identified fossil groups at redshift zero according to two different selection criteria, and then built reliable control samples of non-fossil groups that reproduce the fossil virial mass and assembly time distributions. The faintgalaxies were defined as having r-band absolute magnitudes in the range [-16, -11]. We analysed the properties of the bright and faintgalaxies in fossil and non-fossil groups during the past 8 Gyr. Results: We observed that the brightest galaxy in fossil groups is typically brighter and more massive than their counterparts in control groups. Fossil groups developed their large magnitude gap between the brightest galaxies around 3.5 Gyr ago. The brightest galaxy stellar masses of all groups show a notorious increment at that time. By analysing the behaviour of the magnitude gap between the first and the second, third, and fourth ranked galaxies, we found that at earlier times, fossil groups comprised two large brightest galaxies with similar magnitudes surrounded by much fainter galaxies, while in control groups these magnitude gaps were never as large as in fossils. At early times, fossil groups in the faint population were denser than non-fossil groups, then this trend reversed, and finally they became similar at the present day. The mean number of faintgalaxies in non-fossil systems increases in an almost constant rate towards later times, while this number in fossil groups reaches a plateau at z ~ 0.6 that lasts ~2 Gyr, and then starts growing again more rapidly. Conclusions: The formation of fossil groups is defined at the very beginning of the groups according to their galaxy luminosity sampling, which could be determined by their merging rate at early times.

Some aspects of the chemical evolution of late-type dwarf galaxies are reviewed, together with their implications on three issues of cosmological relevance: similarity to primeval galaxies, derivation of the primordial helium abundance, contribution to the excess of faint blue galaxies. A more detailed approach to model their evolution is suggested. The importance of deriving the star formation history in these systems by studying their resolved stellar populations is emphasized.

Optical imaging and spectroscopy measurements were obtained for six of the high galactic latitude infrared sources reported by Houck, et al. (1984) from the IRAS survey to have no obvious optical counterparts on the POSS prints. All are identified with visually faintgalaxies that have total luminosities in the range 5 x 10 to the 11th power stellar luminosity to 5 x 10 to the 12th power stellar luminosity. This luminosity emerges virtually entirely in the infrared. The origin of the luminosity, which is one to two orders of magnitude greater than that of normal galaxies, is not known at this time.

We use four deep serendipitous fields observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide-Field Camera to constrain the rate of galaxy merging between the current epoch and z approximately equals 0.7. Since most mergers occur between members of bound pairs, the merger rate is given to a good approximation by (half) the rate of disappearance of galaxies in pairs. An objective criterion for pair membership shows that 34% +/- 9% of our HST galaxies with I = 18-22 belong to pairs, compared to 7% locally. This means that about 13% of the galaxy population has disappeared due to merging in the cosmic epoch corresponding to this magnitude interval (or 0.1 approximately less than z approximately less than 0.7). Our pair fraction is a lower limit: correction for pair members falling below our detection threshold might raise the fraction to approximately 50%. Since we address only two-galaxy merging, these values do not include physical systems of higher multiplicity. Incorporating I-band field-galaxy redshift distributions, the pair fraction grows with redshift as alpha(1 + z)(exp 3.5 +/- 0.5) and the merger rate as (1 + z)(exp 2.5 +/- 0.5). This may have significant implications for the interpretation of galaxy counts (disappearance of faint blue galaxies), the cosmological evolution of faint radio sources and quasars (which evolve approximately as (1 + z)(exp 3), the similarity in the power law is necessary but not sufficient evidence for a causal relation), statistics of QSO companions, the galaxy content in distant clusters, and the merging history of a 'typical' galaxy.

This beautiful 13 x 13 image (click for the full view!) holds more than meets the eye. Look closely at the small concentration of blue stars just to the left of center. This is Eridanus II, one of nine new ultra-faintgalaxies discovered just last year aroundthe Milky Way. Detected as part of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and presented in a study led by Sergey E. Koposov (Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge), these new galaxies add to a growing list of very dim satellites that orbit within the Milky Ways potential. Since their discovery, these DES satellites have been used to answer a number of astronomical questions. In particular, the large dark-matter fraction of these ultra-faintgalaxies makes them excellent laboratories for testing models of dark matter in the universe. Check back with us on Wednesday to learn more about what Eridanus II has revealed about dark matter! And for more information on the nine DES-discovered ultra-faint satellites, check out the paper below.CitationSergey E. Koposov et al 2015 ApJ 805 130. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/805/2/130

Extended, double-lobed radio sources are often located in rich galaxy clusters. I will present results of an optical and X-ray analysis of two nearby clusters with such radio sources - one of the clusters is relaxed (A2029) and one of the clusters is undergoing a merger (A98). Because of their association with clusters, extended radio sources can be used to locate clusters at a wide range of distances. The number of spectroscopically confirmed galaxy clusters with is very low compared to the number of well-studied low-redshift clusters. In the Clusters Occupied by Bent Radio AGN (COBRA) survey, we use bent, double-lobed radio sources as signposts to efficiently locate high-redshift clusters. Using a Spitzer Snapshot Survey of our sample of 653 bent, double-lobed radio sources (selected from the FIRST survey and with galaxy hosts too faint to be detected in the SDSS), we have the potential to identify approximately 400 new clusters and groups with redshifts. I will present results from the Spitzer observations regarding the efficiency of the method for finding new clusters. These newly identified clusters will be used to study galaxy formation and evolution, as well as the effect that feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) has on galaxies and their environments.

We present a deep, 8o diameter, 0.4 GHz radio image near the North Galactic Pole using a first time combination of the Arecibo 305-m telescope and the wide-angle interferometer at the DRAO. The uniquely complementary nature of these two instruments permits a distortion-free image sensitive to radiation on all scales from 8o down to that of an individual galaxy halo at the 100 Mpc distance of the Great Wall, all in a single pointing. Faint, previously unseen diffuse patches of distributed radio ``glow'' are detected, well above our detection limit, and on a range of angular scales. The emission could compete with CMB fluctuations as a CMB foreground at high multipole scales around 30GHz if its radio spectrum continues up to these GHz bands. This new faint radio emission appears to be a mix of foreground Galactic, and extragalactic ``glow’. The latter implies i.g. magnetic field strengths at or above 0.1 microgauss on Mpc scales in certain areas. A striking anticorrelation is also found between the diffuse radio glow and some regions of high optical galaxy surface density. This suggests that cosmological Large Scale Structure (LSS), normally defined by the baryonic (and/or dark) matter density, is not uniquely traced by the faint continuum radio glow. More likely, the radio glow is a proxy for IGM energy density, at least in the low redshift universe. Its detailed relation to the WHIM, and diffuse X-ray glow is unclear, and must await future, more sensitive detectors for these latter two IGM components. Support for this project is acknowledged from the DOE's LDRD program at LANL, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the National Science Foundation.

X-ray data recorded by Chandra appears in blue; infrared light recorded by Spitzer appears in red; Hubble's observations of hydrogen emission appear in orange, and the bluest visible light appears in yellow-green.

About the Movie M82 is shown in all its wavelength glory. Dissolving from Chandra X-ray Observatory images of three X-ray energy bands to images in three bands of the infrared spectrum taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope, and ending with the Hubble Space Telescope's visible- and near-infrared-light image. The three observatories' images were composited to reveal the galaxy's stars, as well as gas and dust features.

Note: The size of the Full-Res TIFF for the still image is 4299 samples x 3490 lines.

We carry out numerical simulations to characterize the size, stellar mass, and stellar mass surface density of extended stellar halos in dwarf galaxies as a function of dark matter halo mass. We expect that for galaxies smaller than a critical value, these ghostly halos will not exist because the smaller galactic subunits that build it up, do not form any stars. The detection of ghostly halos around isolated dwarf galaxies is a sensitive test of the efficiency of star formation in the first galaxies and of whether ultra-faint dwarf satellites of the Milky Way are fossils of the first galaxies.

Aims: We aim to study the 250 μm luminosity function (LF) down to much fainter luminosities than achieved by previous efforts. Methods: We developed a modified stacking method to reconstruct the 250 μm LF using optically selected galaxies from the SDSS survey and Herschel maps of the GAMA equatorial fields and Stripe 82. Our stacking method not only recovers the mean 250 μm luminosities of galaxies that are too faint to be individually detected, but also their underlying distribution functions. Results: We find very good agreement with previous measurements in the overlapping luminosity range. More importantly, we are able to derive the LF down to much fainter luminosities (~ 25 times fainter) than achieved by previous studies. We find strong positive luminosity evolution L*250(z)∝(1+z)4.89±1.07 and moderate negative density evolution Φ*250(z)∝(1+z)-1.02±0.54 over the redshift range 0.02

Segue 2, discovered by Belokurov et al., is a galaxy with a luminosity of only 900 L{sub Sun }. We present Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy of 25 members of Segue 2-a threefold increase in spectroscopic sample size. The velocity dispersion is too small to be measured with our data. The upper limit with 90% (95%) confidence is {sigma}{sub v} < 2.2 (2.6) km s{sup -1}, the most stringent limit for any galaxy. The corresponding limit on the mass within the three-dimensional half-light radius (46 pc) is M{sub 1/2} < 1.5 (2.1) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 5} M{sub Sun }. Segue 2 is the least massive galaxy known. We identify Segue 2 as a galaxy rather than a star cluster based on the wide dispersion in [Fe/H] (from -2.85 to -1.33) among the member stars. The stars' [{alpha}/Fe] ratios decline with increasing [Fe/H], indicating that Segue 2 retained Type Ia supernova ejecta despite its presently small mass and that star formation lasted for at least 100 Myr. The mean metallicity, ([Fe/H]) = -2.22 {+-} 0.13 (about the same as the Ursa Minor galaxy, 330 times more luminous than Segue 2), is higher than expected from the luminosity-metallicity relation defined by more luminous dwarf galaxy satellites of the Milky Way. Segue 2 may be the barest remnant of a tidally stripped, Ursa Minor-sized galaxy. If so, it is the best example of an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy that came to be ultra-faint through tidal stripping. Alternatively, Segue 2 could have been born in a very low mass dark matter subhalo (v{sub max} < 10 km s{sup -1}), below the atomic hydrogen cooling limit.

We use a Bayesian - maximum likelihood analysis of the Hubble Deep Field to constrain the epoch of dwarf galaxy formation. Late formation of dwarf galaxies arises as a natural consequence of proposed solutions to the "over-cooling" problem in hierarchical structure formation. Although dwarf-sized halos are among the first objects to collapse out of a cold dark matter dominated universe, photo-ionization from the inter-galactic UV background and stellar feedback at early epochs may suppress or delay significant star formation in dwarf galaxies until redshifts ~ 1. Such late-forming dwarf galaxies may make up a portion of the population of the faint blue galaxies observed at intermediate redshifts. Previous attempts to understand the nature of the faint blue galaxy population have fit the binned number counts, luminosity functions, color and size distributions and compared the results to a handful of possible scenarios. Our approach sums the likelihood of observing each object in the HDF catalog given a dwarf galaxy formation scenario and computes the total likelihood of the given dwarf formation scenario. The parameters of the input model are then varied, and the model with the maximum total likelihood is determined. This technique does not bin the data in any way, tests a wide range of input model parameters, and allows us to quantify the goodness-of-fit and constraints on dwarf galaxy evolution.

We study galaxy evolution over the last eight billion years with large, deep galaxy surveys, PRIMUS, SDSS and DEEP2. Galaxies have changed dramatically over this period of time. The global star formation rate has declined by roughly an order-of-magnitude. Red galaxies have grown substantially in number and mass. Blue galaxies have faded and grown redder as their star formation rate dropped. I demonstrate these evolutionary features with new results from these surveys. I also introduce PRIMUS, the largest faintgalaxy survey to date. We have measured 140,000 robust redshifts to the depths of i (AB) 23 up to z 1, covering 9.1 square degrees of the sky. I show that with the existing deep multi-wavelength imaging in PRIMUS fields we are able to study the evolution in greater detail and investigate proposed physical mechanisms responsible for the evolution.

We present the results of the Local Group Galaxy Emission-line Survey of Hα emission regions in M31, M33 and seven dwarf galaxies in (NGC6822, IC10, WLM, Sextans A and B, Phoenix and Pegasus). Using data from the Local Group Galaxy Survey (LGGS - see Massey et al, 2006), we used continuum-subtracted Ha emission line images to define emission regions with a faint flux limit of 10 -17 ergs-sec-1-cm-2above the background. We have obtained photometric measurements for roughly 7450 Hα emission regions in M31, M33 and five of the seven dwarf galaxies (no regions for Phoenix or Pegasus). Using these regions, with boundaries defined by Hα-emission flux limits, we also measured fluxes for the continuum-subtracted [OIII] and [SII] images and constructed a catalog of Hα fluxes, region sizes and [OIII]/ Hα and [SII]/ Hα line ratios. The HII region luminosity functions and size distributions for the spiral galaxies M31 and M33 are compared with those of the dwarf galaxies NGC 6822 and IC10. For M31 and M33, the average [SII]/ Hα and [OIII]/ Hα line ratios, plotted as a function of galactocentric radius, display a linear trend with shallow slopes consistent with other studies of metallicity gradients in these galaxies. The galaxy-wide averages of [SII]/ Hα line ratios correlate with the masses of the dwarf galaxies following the previously established dwarf galaxy mass-metallicity relationship. The slope of the luminosity functions for the dwarf galaxies varies with galaxy mass. The Carleton Catalog of this Local Group Emission-line Survey will be made available on-line.

I discuss the discovery of a population of extremely luminous, but very dusty and very distant, galaxies in the submillimetre (submm) waveband. Almost all the light emitted by the stars in these galaxies is absorbed by interstellar dust (which is produced by the same stars) and re-radiated in the far-infrared. This leaves little to be detected at optical wavelengths and results in most of these galaxies being effectively invisible in even the deepest optical images obtainable with the Hubble space telescope. Yet this population contributes most of the light emitted by galaxies at wavelengths of lambda > or approximately equal 100 microm over the lifetime of the Universe. Together with other observations, this suggests that perhaps up to half of all the stars seen in galaxies today were formed in very dusty regions in the early Universe. Hence, studying the galaxies detected in the submm wavebands is critical for developing and testing models of galaxy formation and evolution. Individually, these luminous submm galaxies are forming stars a thousand times faster than our Galaxy is at the present-day, sufficiently fast to form all the stars in the most luminous galaxy in the local Universe within a short period, up to ca. 0.1-1 Gyr. Detailed study of a handful of examples of this population confirm these estimates and unequivocally identify the bulk of this submm-selected population with dusty, star-burst galaxies in the very distant Universe. The extreme faintness of this population in the optical and near-infrared wavebands, resulting from their obscuration by dust, means that our understanding of the detailed nature of these galaxies is only slowly growing. I give a brief summary of the properties of these highly obscured systems and describe the wide range of facilities currently being developed that will greatly aid in their study. PMID:12626261

We present the first results of a wide-field mapping survey of the M81 group conducted with Hyper Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope. Our deep photometry reaches ˜2 mag below the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) and reveals the spatial distribution of both old and young stars over an area of ˜ 100 × 115 kpc at the distance of M81. The young stars (˜30-160 Myr old) closely follow the neutral hydrogen distribution and can be found in a stellar stream between M81 and NGC 3077 and in numerous outlying stellar associations, including the known concentrations of Arp's Loop, Holmberg IX, an arc in the halo of M82, BK3N, and the Garland. Many of these groupings do not have counterparts in the RGB maps, suggesting they may be genuinely young systems. Our survey also reveals for the first time the very extended (≥slant 2× {R}25) halos of RGB stars around M81, M82, and NGC 3077, as well as faint tidal streams that link these systems. The halos of M82 and NGC 3077 exhibit highly disturbed morphologies, presumably a consequence of the recent gravitational encounter and their ongoing disruption. While the halos of M81 and NGC 3077 and the inner halo of M82 have similar {(g-i)}0 colors, the outer halo of M82 is significantly bluer indicating it is more metal poor. Remarkably, our deep panoramic view of the M81 group demonstrates that the complexity long known to be present in HI is equally matched in the low surface brightness stellar component. Based on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

We present a systematic study of non-thermal electron–proton plasma and its emission processes in starburst galaxies in order to explain the correlation between the luminosity in the radio band and the recently observed gamma luminosity. In doing so, a steady state description of the cosmic-ray (CR) electrons and protons within the spatially homogeneous starburst is considered where continuous momentum losses are included as well as catastrophic losses due to diffusion and advection. The primary source of the relativistic CRs, e.g., supernova remnants, provides a quasi-neutral plasma with a power-law spectrum in momentum where we account for rigidity-dependent differences between the electron and proton spectrum. We examine the resulting leptonic and hadronic radiation processes by synchrotron radiation, inverse Compton scattering, Bremsstrahlung, and hadronic pion production. Finally, the observations of NGC 253, M82, NGC 4945, and NGC 1068 in the radio and gamma-ray bands as well as the observed supernova rate are used to constrain a best-fit model. In the case of NGC 253, M82, and NGC 4945 our model is able to accurately describe the data, showing that: (i) supernovae are the dominant particle accelerators for NGC 253, M82, and NGC 4945, but not for NGC 1068; (ii) all considered starburst galaxies are poor proton calorimeters in which for NGC 253 the escape is predominantly driven by the galactic wind, whereas the diffusive escape dominates in NGC 4945 and M82 (at energies >1 TeV); and (iii) secondary electrons from hadronic pion production are important to model the radio flux, but the associated neutrino flux is below the current observation limit.

We present a systematic study of non-thermal electron-proton plasma and its emission processes in starburst galaxies in order to explain the correlation between the luminosity in the radio band and the recently observed gamma luminosity. In doing so, a steady state description of the cosmic-ray (CR) electrons and protons within the spatially homogeneous starburst is considered where continuous momentum losses are included as well as catastrophic losses due to diffusion and advection. The primary source of the relativistic CRs, e.g., supernova remnants, provides a quasi-neutral plasma with a power-law spectrum in momentum where we account for rigidity-dependent differences between the electron and proton spectrum. We examine the resulting leptonic and hadronic radiation processes by synchrotron radiation, inverse Compton scattering, Bremsstrahlung, and hadronic pion production. Finally, the observations of NGC 253, M82, NGC 4945, and NGC 1068 in the radio and gamma-ray bands as well as the observed supernova rate are used to constrain a best-fit model. In the case of NGC 253, M82, and NGC 4945 our model is able to accurately describe the data, showing that: (i) supernovae are the dominant particle accelerators for NGC 253, M82, and NGC 4945, but not for NGC 1068; (ii) all considered starburst galaxies are poor proton calorimeters in which for NGC 253 the escape is predominantly driven by the galactic wind, whereas the diffusive escape dominates in NGC 4945 and M82 (at energies >1 TeV); and (iii) secondary electrons from hadronic pion production are important to model the radio flux, but the associated neutrino flux is below the current observation limit.

Exploiting the power of gravitational lensing, the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) program aims at observing six massive galaxy clusters to explore the distant universe far beyond the limits of blank field surveys. Using the complete Hubble Space Telescope observations of the first HFF cluster A2744, we report the detection of 50 galaxy candidates at z ∼ 7 and eight candidates at z ∼ 8 in a total survey area of 0.96 arcmin{sup 2} in the source plane. Three of these galaxies are multiply imaged by the lensing cluster. Using an updated model of the mass distribution in the cluster we were able to calculate the magnification factor and the effective survey volume for each galaxy in order to compute the ultraviolet galaxy luminosity function (LF) at both redshifts 7 and 8. Our new measurements reliably extend the z ∼ 7 UV LF down to an absolute magnitude of M {sub UV} ∼ –15.5. We find a characteristic magnitude of M{sub UV}{sup ⋆}=−20.90{sub −0.73}{sup +0.90} mag and a faint-end slope α=−2.01{sub −0.28}{sup +0.20}, close to previous determinations in blank fields. We show here for the first time that this slope remains steep down to very faint luminosities of 0.01 L {sup *}. Although prone to large uncertainties, our results at z ∼ 8 also seem to confirm a steep faint-end slope below 0.1 L {sup *}. The HFF program is therefore providing an extremely efficient way to study the faintest galaxy populations at z > 7 that would otherwise be inaccessible with current instrumentation. The full sample of six galaxy clusters will provide even better constraints on the buildup of galaxies at early epochs and their contribution to cosmic reionization.

It has been speculated that low-luminosity radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) have the potential to serve as an important source of AGN feedback, and may be responsible for suppressing star formation activity in massive elliptical galaxies at late times. As such the cosmic evolution of these sources is vitally important to understand the significance of such AGN feedback processes and their influence on the global star formation history of the Universe. In this paper, we present a new investigation of the evolution of faint radio sources out to z ˜ 2.5. We combine a 1 square degree Very Large Array radio survey, complete to a depth of 100 μJy, with accurate 10 band photometric redshifts from the following surveys: Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy Deep Extragalactic Observations and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. The results indicate that the radio population experiences mild positive evolution out to z ˜ 1.2 increasing their space density by a factor of ˜3, consistent with results of several previous studies. Beyond z = 1.2, there is evidence of a slowing down of this evolution. Star-forming galaxies drive the more rapid evolution at low redshifts, z < 1.2, while more slowly evolving AGN populations dominate at higher redshifts resulting in a decline in the evolution of the radio luminosity function at z > 1.2. The evolution is best fitted by pure luminosity evolution with star-forming galaxies evolving as (1 + z)2.47 ± 0.12 and AGN as (1 + z)1.18 ± 0.21.

Evidence for inhomogeneous mixing in the Carina, Draco, and Sculptor dwarf galaxies is examined from chemical abundance patterns. Inhomogeneous mixing at early times is indicated in the classical dwarf galaxies, though cannot be ascertained in ultra faint dwarfs. Mixing efficiencies can affect the early metallicity distribution function, the pre-enrichment levels in globular clusters, and also have an impact on the structure of dwarf systems at early times. Numerical models that include chemical evolution explicitly do a better job in reproducing the observations, and make interesting predictions for the nature of dwarf galaxies and their first stars at the earliest times.

New observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope have, for the first time, provided direct evidence that young galaxies can grow by sucking in the cool gas around them and using it as fuel for the formation of many new stars. In the first few billion years after the Big Bang the mass of a typical galaxy increased dramatically and understanding why this happened is one of the hottest problems in modern astrophysics. The results appear in the 14 October issue of the journal Nature. The first galaxies formed well before the Universe was one billion years old and were much smaller than the giant systems - including the Milky Way - that we see today. So somehow the average galaxy size has increased as the Universe has evolved. Galaxies often collide and then merge to form larger systems and this process is certainly an important growth mechanism. However, an additional, gentler way has been proposed. A European team of astronomers has used ESO's Very Large Telescope to test this very different idea - that young galaxies can also grow by sucking in cool streams of the hydrogen and helium gas that filled the early Universe and forming new stars from this primitive material. Just as a commercial company can expand either by merging with other companies, or by hiring more staff, young galaxies could perhaps also grow in two different ways - by merging with other galaxies or by accreting material. The team leader, Giovanni Cresci (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri) says: "The new results from the VLT are the first direct evidence that the accretion of pristine gas really happened and was enough to fuel vigorous star formation and the growth of massive galaxies in the young Universe." The discovery will have a major impact on our understanding of the evolution of the Universe from the Big Bang to the present day. Theories of galaxy formation and evolution may have to be re-written. The group began by selecting three very distant galaxies to see if they could find evidence

Exploiting the power of gravitational lensing, the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) program aims at observing six massive galaxy clusters to explore the distant universe far beyond the limits of blank field surveys. Using the complete Hubble Space Telescope observations of the first HFF cluster A2744, we report the detection of 50 galaxy candidates at z ~ 7 and eight candidates at z ~ 8 in a total survey area of 0.96 arcmin2 in the source plane. Three of these galaxies are multiply imaged by the lensing cluster. Using an updated model of the mass distribution in the cluster we were able to calculate the magnification factor and the effective survey volume for each galaxy in order to compute the ultraviolet galaxy luminosity function (LF) at both redshifts 7 and 8. Our new measurements reliably extend the z ~ 7 UV LF down to an absolute magnitude of M UV ~ -15.5. We find a characteristic magnitude of M\\star UV = -20.90+0.90-0.73 mag and a faint-end slope α =-2.01+0.20-0.28, close to previous determinations in blank fields. We show here for the first time that this slope remains steep down to very faint luminosities of 0.01 L sstarf. Although prone to large uncertainties, our results at z ~ 8 also seem to confirm a steep faint-end slope below 0.1 L sstarf. The HFF program is therefore providing an extremely efficient way to study the faintest galaxy populations at z > 7 that would otherwise be inaccessible with current instrumentation. The full sample of six galaxy clusters will provide even better constraints on the buildup of galaxies at early epochs and their contribution to cosmic reionization. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with programs 13495, 11386, 13389, and 11689. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS

At present, the precision of deep ultraviolet photometry is somewhat limited by the dearth of faint ultraviolet standard stars. In an effort to improve this situation, we present a uniform catalog of 11 new faint (u {approx} 17) ultraviolet standard stars. High-precision photometry of these stars has been taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Galaxy Evolution Explorer archives and combined with new data from the Swift Ultraviolet Optical Telescope to provide precise photometric measures extending from the near-infrared to the far-ultraviolet. These stars were chosen because they are known to be hot (20, 000 < T{sub eff} < 50, 000 K) DA white dwarfs with published Sloan spectra that should be photometrically stable. This careful selection allows us to compare the combined photometry and Sloan spectroscopy to models of pure hydrogen atmospheres to both constrain the underlying properties of the white dwarfs and test the ability of white dwarf models to predict the photometric measures. We find that the photometry provides good constraints on white dwarf temperatures, which demonstrates the ability of Swift/UVOT to investigate the properties of hot luminous stars. We further find that the models reproduce the photometric measures in all 11 passbands to within their systematic uncertainties. Within the limits of our photometry, we find the standard stars to be photometrically stable. This success indicates that the models can be used to calibrate additional filters to our standard system, permitting easier comparison of photometry from heterogeneous sources. The largest source of uncertainty in the model fitting is the uncertainty in the foreground reddening curve, a problem that is especially acute in the UV.

The gas content of the faintest and lowest mass dwarf galaxies provide means to study the evolution of these unique objects. The evolutionary histories of low mass dwarf galaxies are interesting in their own right, but may also provide insight into fundamental cosmological problems. These include the nature of dark matter, the disagreement between the number of observed Local Group dwarf galaxies and that predicted by lambda cold dark matter models, and the discrepancy between the observed census of baryonic matter in the Milky Way's environment and theoretical predictions. This thesis explores these questions by studying the neutral hydrogen (HI) component of dwarf galaxies. First, limits on the HI mass of the ultra-faint dwarfs are presented, and the HI content of all Local Group dwarf galaxies is examined from an environmental standpoint. We find that those Local Group dwarfs within 270 kpc of a massive host galaxy are deficient in HI as compared to those at larger galactocentric distances. Ram-pressure arguments are invoked, which suggest halo densities greater than 2-3 x 10-4 cm-3 out to distances of at least 70 kpc, values which are consistent with theoretical models and suggest the halo may harbor a large fraction of the host galaxy's baryons. We also find that accounting for the incompleteness of the dwarf galaxy count, known dwarf galaxies whose gas has been removed could have provided at most 2.1 x 108 M⊙ of HI gas to the Milky Way. Second, we examine the possibility of discovering unknown gas-rich ultra-faintgalaxies in the Local Group using HI. The GALFA-HI Survey catalog is searched for compact, isolated HI clouds which are most similar to the expected HI characteristics of low mass dwarf galaxies. Fifty-one Local Group dwarf galaxy candidates are identified through column density, brightness temperature, and kinematic selection criteria, and their properties are explored. Third, we present hydrodynamic simulations of dwarf galaxies experiencing a

(farther out than those seen in this image) are populated with baby stars. X-ray observations of the heart of Messier 83 have shown that its centre is a hive of vigorous star formation, held deep within a cloud of superheated gas, with temperatures of 7 million degrees Celsius. Messier 83 is also one of the most prolific producers of supernovae, that is, exploding stars: this is one of the two galaxies, which had 6 supernovae in the past 100 years. One of these, SN 1957D was observable for 30 years! The Wide Field Imager (WFI) is a specialised astronomical camera attached to the 2.2-metre Max-Planck Society/ESO telescope, sited at the La Silla observatory in Chile. Located nearly 2400 m above sea level, atop the mountains of the Atacama Desert, ESO's La Silla enjoys some of the clearest and darkest skies on the whole planet, making the site ideally suited for studying the farthest depths of the Universe. To make this image, the WFI stared at M83 for roughly 100 minutes through a series of specialist filters, allowing the faint detail of the galaxy to reveal itself. The brighter stars in the foreground are stars in our own galaxy, whilst behind M83 the darkness is peppered with the faint smudges of distant galaxies.

One of the outstanding problems in cosmology is addressing the "small-scale crisis" and understanding structure formation at the smallest scales. Standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter cosmological simulations of Milky Way-size DM halos predict many more DM sub-halos than the number of dwarf galaxies observed. This is the so-called Missing Satellites Problem. The most popular interpretation of the Missing Satellites Problem is that the smallest dark matter halos in the universe are extremely inefficient at forming stars. The virialized extent of the Milky Way's halo should contain ~500 satellites, while only ˜100 satellites and dwarfs are observed in the whole Local Group. Despite the large amount of theoretical work and new optical observations, the discrepancy, even if reduced, still persists between observations and hierarchical models, regardless of the model parameters. It may be possible to find those isolated ultra-faint missing dwarf galaxies via their neutral gas component, which is one of the goals we are pursuing with the SKA precursor KAT-7 in South Africa, and soon with the SKA pathfinder MeerKAT.

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a very small, faintgalaxy 'building block' newly discovered by a unique collaboration between ground- and space-based telescopes. Hubble and the 10-meter Keck Telescopes in Hawaii joined forces, using a galaxy cluster which acts as gravitational lens to detect what scientists believe is one of the smallest very distant objects ever found. The galaxy cluster Abell 2218 was used by a team of European and American astronomers led by Richard Ellis (Caltech) in their systematic search for intrinsically faint distant star-forming systems. Without help from Abell 2218's exceptional magnifying power to make objects appear about 30 times brighter, the galaxy building block would have been undetectable. In the image to the right, the object is seen distorted into two nearly identical, very red 'images' by the gravitational lens. The image pair represents the magnified result of a single background object gravitationally lensed by Abell 2218 and viewed at a distance of 13.4 billion light-years. The intriguing object contains only one million stars, far fewer than a mature galaxy, and scientists believe it is very young. Such young star-forming systems of low mass at early cosmic times are likely to be the objects from which present-day galaxies have formed. In the image to the left, the full overview of the galaxy cluster Abell 2218 is seen. This image was taken by Hubble in 1999 at the completion of Hubble Servicing Mission 3A. Credit: NASA, ESA, Richard Ellis (Caltech) and Jean-Paul Kneib (Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees, France) Acknowledgment: NASA, A. Fruchter and the ERO Team (STScI and ST-ECF)

Close encounters between two spherical galaxies of equal size and consisting of only one stellar population are calculated using models of elliptical galaxies constructed according to King's (1966) method. The mass loss and the change in internal energy are computed under the assumption that the stars do not change their velocity or density distributions during the encounters. The results for a specific case are compared with the calculations of Gallagher and Ostriker (1972), who employed the observed brightness distribution and the derived density distribution of the E1 galaxy NGC 3379. For models with one stellar population, the results suggest that the radius of a galactic halo would have to be at least 200 kpc for appreciable mass loss to occur over the history of a galaxy in a rich cluster. The calculations are then extended to include a halo population characterized by a high central velocity dispersion. In this case, it is found that the halo population of sufficiently large galaxies can be dispersed without appreciably affecting the main population. It is suggested that the missing mass of many clusters of galaxies may be located in an intergalactic sea of faint stars making up an envelope for the centrally located gE galaxies.

I present a brief review of the stellar population properties of massive galaxies, focusing on early-type galaxies in particular, with emphasis on recent results from the ATLAS3D Survey. I discuss the occurence of young stellar ages, cold gas, and ongoing star formation in early-type galaxies, the presence of which gives important clues to the evolutionary path of these galaxies. Consideration of empirical star formation histories gives a meaningful picture of galaxy stellar population properties, and allows accurate comparison of mass estimates from populations and dynamics. This has recently provided strong evidence of a non-universal IMF, as supported by other recent evidences. Spatially-resolved studies of stellar populations are also crucial to connect distinct components within galaxies to spatial structures seen in other wavelengths or parameters. Stellar populations in the faint outer envelopes of early-type galaxies are a formidable frontier for observers, but promise to put constraints on the ratio of accreted stellar mass versus that formed `in situ' - a key feature of recent galaxy formation models. Galaxy environment appears to play a key role in controlling the stellar population properties of low mass galaxies. Simulations remind us, however, that current day galaxies are the product of a complex assembly and environment history, which gives rise to the trends we see. This has strong implications for our interpretation of environmental trends.

We propose to investigate the spatial distributions of stellar populations within a statistically significant set of galaxies, representing the full range of luminosity and morphological type. By obtaining new, near-infrared images of these galaxies to complement existing optical and near-UV data, we can self-consistently probe the older stellar populations, dust extinction, and metallicity, and ultimately determine ages of and age variations within the stellar components of these galaxies. This information can then be used to compare stellar populations between luminous and faintgalaxies of the same Hubble type, and between similar luminosity galaxies of different types. Galaxy candidates for this study were drawn from the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey (Jansen 2000), which provides U, B, and R optical images and both nuclear and globally integrated spectra. Near- infrared J, H, and K_s surface photometry can break the age-dust- metallicity degeneracy in galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs), but existing 2MASS image data is not sufficiently deep for this purpose. We therefore request observing time on the Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) on the CTIO 4-m Blanco telescope to secure J, H, and K_s images reaching out to the optical radius for 19 NFGS galaxies observable from Cerro Tololo in 2014B. Specific results expected from this sample are the distributions of age, dust, and metallicity across galaxies of differing type and luminosity. These distributions will allow us to address systematic trends in assembly history that can confront simulations of hierarchical galaxy formation.

We propose to investigate the spatial distributions of stellar populations within a statistically significant set of galaxies, representing the full range of luminosity and morphological type. By obtaining new, near-infrared images of these galaxies to complement existing optical and near-UV data, we can self-consistently probe the older stellar populations, dust extinction, and metallicity, and ultimately determine ages of and age variations within the stellar components of these galaxies. This information can then be used to compare stellar populations between luminous and faintgalaxies of the same Hubble type, and between similar luminosity galaxies of different types. Galaxy candidates for this study were drawn from the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey (Jansen 2000), which provides U, B, and R optical images and both nuclear and globally integrated spectra. Near- infrared J, H, and K_s surface photometry can break the age-dust- metallicity degeneracy in galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs), but existing 2MASS image data is not sufficiently deep for this purpose. We therefore request observing time on the Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) on the CTIO 4-m Blanco telescope to secure J, H, and K_s images reaching out to the optical radius for 12 NFGS galaxies observable from Cerro Tololo in 2014A. Specific results expected from this sample are the distributions of age, dust, and metallicity across galaxies of differing type and luminosity. These distributions will allow us to address systematic trends in assembly history that can confront simulations of hierarchical galaxy formation.

The existence of a dominant population of strongly evolving starburst sources at moderate redshift is a plausible explanation for the excess number of faint blue galaxies detected in deep sky surveys. Multiwavelength observations at faint magnitudes would allow the existence of such a population to be confirmed. We use observed luminosity correlations and physical properties of known starburst galaxies to predict their contribution to the deep radio, infrared, and X-ray counts, as well as to the diffuse extragalactic background radiation in these various spectral bands.

Context. Harvesting the SAI supernova catalog, the most complete list of supernovae (SNe) currently available, we search for SNe that apparently do not occur within a distinct host galaxy but lie a great distance (several arcmin) apart from the host galaxy given in the catalog or even show no sign of an identifiable galaxy in their direct vicinity. Aims: We attempt to distinguish between two possible explanations of this host-lessness of a fraction of reported SNe, namely (i) that a host galaxy is too faint (of too low surface brightness) to be detected within the limits of currently available surveys (presumably a low surface brightness galaxy) or (ii) the progenitor of the SN is a hypervelocity star (HVS) that exploded kiloparsecs away from its host galaxy. Methods: We use deep imaging to test the first explanation. If no galaxy is identified within our detection limit of ~27 mag arcsec-2, which is the central surface brightness of the faintest known LSB galaxy so far, we discard this explanation and propose that the SN, after several other checks, had a hypervelocity star progenitor. We focus on observations for which this is the case and give lower limits to the actual space velocities of the progenitors, making them the first hypervelocity stars known in galaxies other than our own Milky Way. Results: Analyzing a selected subsample of five host-less SNe, we find one, SN 2006bx in UGC 5434, is a possible hypervelocity progenitor category with a high probability, exhibiting a projected velocity of ~800 km s-1. SN 1969L in NGC 1058 is most likely an example of a very extended star-forming disk visible only in the far-UV, but not in the optical wavebands. Therefore, this SN is clearly due to in situ star formation. This mechanism may also apply to two other SNe that we investigated (SN 1970L and SN 1997C), but this cannot be determined with certainty. Another SN, SN 2005 nc which is associated with a gamma-ray burst (GRB 050525), is a special case that is not

We study several statistical properties of galaxies in four poor clusters of galaxies using optical photometry. We select these poor clusters as luminous, extended X-ray sources identified with poor galaxy systems in the EMSS catalogue of clusters of galaxies. The clusters are at moderate redshifts (0.08galaxy populations are clearly evolved, as traced by the tightness of their color--magnitude relations and accordance of the latter with those of the Virgo Cluster. The fraction of blue galaxies is similar to those of low-redshift richness 0 clusters and higher than those of richer clusters at similar redshifts. The luminosity functions (LFs) of the individual clusters are not significantly different from each other. Using these, we construct composite LFs in B, V , and R bands (to MV=-18). The faint-end of these LFs are flat, like the V-band LF of other (e.g., MKW/AWM) poor clusters, but steeper than the field LF in the R-band. In terms of the statistical properties of their member galaxies, poor clusters appear to be lower-mass extensions of their rich counterparts.

Starburst outflows from NGC 5461, 1569 and M82 are discussed. The Sc I galaxy, M101, is reknowned for the kpc-size superassociations of star clusters and HII regions that dominate its spiral arms. NGC 5461 is one of the brightest of these superassociations, rivaling the Large Magellanic Cloud in H alpha luminosity. The NGC 5461 superassociation is dominated by a single unresolved HII region of outstanding luminosity (approx. 1000 Orion nebulae). Detailed examination of corresponding continuum images indicates that only the southern plume has any sort of stellar counterpart. The other plumes are clearly diffuse with no underlying hot stars. An image of NGC 1569 is discussed. Besides showing the peculiar arm noted by Zwicky (1971) and the filamentary extensions to the North and South (as noted by Hodge 1974), this image also reveals two arc-like features of diffuse ionized gas to the South. Both arcs are concentric with the bright center of the galaxy - where the super star clusters, A and B are located. The inner arc (Arc 1) appears to follow the same curve as the SW arm thus suggesting that the two features represent limb-brightened fragments of vast superbubble that was blown out by a central starburst sometime in the past. As the classic starburst galaxy, M82 displays all the luminous hallmarks of intense high-mass star formation and outflow activity. The diffuse H alpha and x ray emitting gas along the minor axis provides especially good evidence for a bipolar outflow of hot gas which is shock heating the swept-up interstellar medium (ISM) to temperatures of approx. 10(exp 4) K. An image shows the H alpha emission within the disk and along the minor axis. Another image shows the same field in the light of near-infrared. Both figures are based on charge coupled device images taken with the McGraw-Hill 1.3 m telescope (Waller 1989). The longer wavelength emission clearly shows a more extended morphology along the major axis. The morphological discrepancy is most

Theories of galaxy formation and evolution predict that there should be significantly more dwarf galaxies than have been observed. Are our theories wrong? Or are dwarf galaxies just difficult to detect? Recent results from a survey of a galaxy cluster 62 million light-years away suggest there may be lots of undiscovered dwarf galaxies hiding throughout the universe!Hiding in FaintnessThe missing dwarf problem has had hints of a resolution with the recent discovery of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs) in the Coma and Virgo galaxy clusters. UDGs have low masses and large radii, resulting in a very low surface brightness that makes them extremely difficult to detect. If many dwarfs are UDGs, this could well explain why weve been missing them!But the Coma and Virgo galaxy clusters are similar in that theyre both very massive. Are there UDGs in other galaxy clusters as well? To answer this question, an international team of scientists is running the Next Generation Fornax Survey (NGFS), a survey searching for faint dwarf galaxies in the central 30 square degrees of the Fornax galaxy cluster.The NGFS uses near-UV and optical observations from the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the 4m Blanco Telescope in Chile. The survey is still underway, but in a recent publication led by Roberto P. Muoz (Institute of Astrophysics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile), the team has released an overview of the first results from only the central 3 square degrees of the NGFS field.Surprising DetectionGalaxy radii vs. their absolute i-band magnitudes, for the dwarfs found in NGFS as well as other stellar systems in the nearby universe. The NGFS dwarfs are similar to the ultra-diffuse dwarfs found in the Virgo and Coma clusters, but are several orders of magnitude fainter. [Muoz et al. 2015]In just this small central field, the team has found an astounding 284 low-surface-brightness dwarf galaxy candidates 158 of them previously undetected. At the bright end of this sample are dwarf

We present preliminary results of wide-field visual CCD polarimetry for large optical galaxies through a concentric multisector radial-tangential polaroid analyzer mounted at the intermediate focus of a Zeiss-1000 telescope. The mean degree of tangential polarization in a 13-arcmin field, which was determined by processing images with imprinted ``orthogonal'' sectors, ranges from several percent (M82) and 0.51% (the spirals M 51, M 81) to lower values for elliptical galaxies (M 49, M 87). It is emphasized that the parameters of large-scale polarization can be properly determined by using physical models for galaxies; inclination and azimuthal dependences of the degree of polarization are given for spirals.

The recent discovery by Bachetti et al. of a pulsar in M82 that can reach luminosities of up to 1040 erg s-1, a factor of ˜100 times the Eddington luminosity for a 1.4 M⊙ compact object, poses a challenge for accretion physics. In order to better understand the nature of this source and its duty cycle, and in light of several physical models that have been subsequently published, we conduct a spectral and temporal analysis of the 0.5-8 keV X-ray emission from this source from 15 years of Chandra observations. We analyze 19 ACIS observations where the point-spread function (PSF) of the pulsar is not contaminated by nearby sources. We fit the Chandra spectra of the pulsar with a power-law model and a disk blackbody model, subjected to interstellar absorption in M82. We carefully assess for the effect of pile-up in our observations, where four observations have a pile-up fraction of >10%, which we account for during spectral modeling with a convolution model. When fitted with a power-law model, the average photon index when the source is at high luminosity (LX > 1039 erg s-1) is Γ = 1.33 ± 0.15. For the disk blackbody model, the average temperature is Tin = 3.24 ± 0.65 keV, the spectral shape being consistent with other luminous X-ray pulsars. We also investigated the inclusion of a soft excess component and spectral break, finding that the spectra are also consistent with these features common to luminous X-ray pulsars. In addition, we present spectral analysis from NuSTAR over the 3-50 keV range where we have isolated the pulsed component. We find that the pulsed emission in this band is best fit by a power-law with a high-energy cutoff, where Γ = 0.6 ± 0.3 and {E}{{C}}={14}-3+5 keV. While the pulsar has previously been identified as a transient, we find from our longer-baseline study that it has been remarkably active over the 15-year period, where for 9/19 (47%) observations that we analyzed, the pulsar appears to be emitting at a luminosity in excess of

We describe a wide-area CCD survey to search for faint high-latitude carbon (FHLC) stars. Carbon giants provide excellent probes of the structure and kinematics of the outer Galactic halo. We use two-color photometric selection with large-format CCDs to cover 52 sq deg of sky to a depth of about V = 18. Of 94 faint C star candidates from our own CCD survey, one highly ranked V = 17 candidate was found to have a strong carbon and CN bands. We estimate that, to a depth of V = 18, the surface density of FHLC stars is 0.02 deg(exp -2). An updated FHLC sample is used to constrain halo kinematic and structural parameters. Although larger samples are needed, the effective radius of FHLC giants, assuming a de Vancouleurs law distribution, is larger than that for Galactic globular clusters.

Infrared Faint Radio Sources (IFRS) are radio sources with extremely faint or even absent infrared emission in deep Spitzer Surveys. Models of their spectral energy distributions, the ratios of radio to infrared flux densities and their steep radio spectra strongly suggest that IFRS are AGN at high redshifts (2

The rest-frame far-ultraviolet morphologies of eight nearby interacting and starburst galaxies (Arp 269, M82, Mrk 8, NGC 520, NGC 1068, NGC 3079, NGC 3310, and NGC 7673) are compared with 54 galaxies at z {approx} 1.5 and 46 galaxies at z {approx} 4 observed in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The nearby sample is artificially redshifted to z {approx} 1.5 and 4 by applying luminosity and size scaling. We compare the simulated galaxy morphologies to real z {approx} 1.5 and 4 UV-bright galaxy morphologies. We calculate the Gini coefficient (G), the second-order moment of the brightest 20% of the galaxy's flux (M {sub 20}), and the Sersic index (n). We explore the use of nonparametric methods with two-dimensional profile fitting and find the combination of M {sub 20} with n an efficient method to classify galaxies as having merger, exponential disk, or bulge-like morphologies. When classified according to G and M {sub 20} 20/30% of real/simulated galaxies at z {approx} 1.5 and 37/12% at z {approx} 4 have bulge-like morphologies. The rest have merger-like or intermediate distributions. Alternatively, when classified according to the Sersic index, 70% of the z {approx} 1.5 and z {approx} 4 real galaxies are exponential disks or bulge-like with n>0.8, and {approx} 30% of the real galaxies are classified as mergers. The artificially redshifted galaxies have n values with {approx} 35% bulge or exponential at z {approx} 1.5 and 4. Therefore, {approx} 20%-30% of Lyman-break galaxies have structures similar to local starburst mergers, and may be driven by similar processes. We assume merger-like or clumpy star-forming galaxies in the GOODS field have morphological structure with values n < 0.8 and M {sub 20}> - 1.7. We conclude that Mrk 8, NGC 3079, and NGC 7673 have structures similar to those of merger-like and clumpy star-forming galaxies observed at z {approx} 1.5 and 4.

Ancient sediments indicate that liquid water and primitive life were ubiquitous on the Archean Earth despite the faint young Sun. However, energy balance and radiative-convective models require improbably high greenhouse gas abundances to obtain non-glacial climates, violating constraints from geochemical data. A self-consistent solution to the faint young Sun paradox has remained elusive. Here we use the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model version 3 with thermodynamic ocean and sea ice components to simulate the climate circa 2.8 billion years ago. To maintain present day surface temperatures, 0.06 bar of CO2 in a 1 bar atmosphere is required to compensate for a 20 percent reduction in the solar constant. However, waterbelt climates having stable low latitude sea ice margins can be maintained with as little as 500 ppm of CO2 and no additional trace greenhouse species. With 5000 ppm of CO2 nearly 60 percent of the planet remains free from ice. The early Earth is resistant to hard snowball glaciations instead favoring waterbelt climates. The coexistence of a faint young Sun and a weak greenhouse does not exclude the presence of liquid water at the Archean surface.

The authors analyze the B-R{sub c} colors of galaxies as functions of luminosity and local galaxy density using a large photometric redshift catalog based on the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey. They select two samples of galaxies with a magnitude limit of M{sub R{sub e}} < -18.5 and redshift ranges of 0.2 {le} z < 0.4 and 0.4 {le} x < 0.6 containing 10{sup 5} galaxies each. they model the color distributions of subsamples of galaxies and derive the red galaxy fraction and peak colors of red and blue galaxies as functions of galaxy luminosity and environment. The evolution of these relationships over the redshift range of x {approx} 0.5 to z {approx} 0.05 is analyzed in combination with published results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. They find that there is a strong evolution in the restframe peak color of bright blue galaxies in that they become redder with decreasing redshift, while the colors of faint blue galaxies remain approximately constant. This effect supports the ''downsizing'' scenario of star formation in galaxies. While the general dependence of the galaxy color distributions on the environment is small, they find that the change of red galaxy fraction with epoch is a function of the local galaxy density, suggesting that the downsizing effect may operate with different timescales in regions of different galaxy densities.

We develop a semianalytic model of hierarchical galaxy formation with an improved treatment of the evolution of galaxies inside dark matter halos. We take into account not only dynamical friction processes building up the central dominant galaxy but also binary aggregations of satellite galaxies inside a common halo. These deplete small to intermediate mass objects, affecting the slope of the luminosity function at its faint end, with significant observable consequences. We model the effect of two-body aggregations using the kinetic Smoluchowski equation. This flattens the mass function by an amount that depends on the histories of the host halos as they grow by hierarchical clustering. The description of gas cooling, star formation and evolution, and supernova feedback follows the standard prescriptions widely used in semianalytic modeling. We find that binary aggregations are effective in depleting the number of small/intermediate mass galaxies over the redshift range 1faint end. At z~0 the flattening occurs for -20faint end for MB>-16. We compare our predicted luminosity functions with those obtained from deep multicolor surveys in the Hubble Deep Field-North, Hubble Deep Field-South, and New Technology Telescope Deep Field in the rest-frame B and UV bands for the redshift ranges 01 and even more at z~3 by the effect of the binary aggregations. The predictions from our dynamical model are discussed and compared with the effects of complementary processes (additional starburst recipes, alternative sources of feedback, different mass distribution of the dark matter halos) that may conspire in affecting the shape of the luminosity function.

Context. Showing 1.4 GHz flux densities in the range of a few to a few tens of mJy, infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are a type of galaxy characterised by faint or absent near-infrared counterparts and consequently extreme radio-to-infrared flux density ratios up to several thousand. Recent studies showed that IFRS are radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at redshifts ≳2, potentially linked to high-redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs). Aims: This work explores the far-infrared emission of IFRS, providing crucial information on the star forming and AGN activity of IFRS. Furthermore, the data enable examining the putative relationship between IFRS and HzRGs and testing whether IFRS are more distant or fainter siblings of these massive galaxies. Methods: A sample of six IFRS was observed with the Herschel Space Observatory between 100 μm and 500 μm. Using these results, we constrained the nature of IFRS by modelling their broad-band spectral energy distribution (SED). Furthermore, we set an upper limit on their infrared SED and decomposed their emission into contributions from an AGN and from star forming activity. Results: All six observed IFRS were undetected in all five Herschel far-infrared channels (stacking limits: σ = 0.74 mJy at 100 μm, σ = 3.45 mJy at 500 μm). Based on our SED modelling, we ruled out the following objects to explain the photometric characteristics of IFRS: (a) known radio-loud quasars and compact steep-spectrum sources at any redshift; (b) starburst galaxies with and without an AGN and Seyfert galaxies at any redshift, even if the templates were modified; and (c) known HzRGs at z ≲ 10.5. We find that the IFRS analysed in this work can only be explained by objects that fulfil the selection criteria of HzRGs. More precisely, IFRS could be (a) known HzRGs at very high redshifts (z ≳ 10.5); (b) low-luminosity siblings of HzRGs with additional dust obscuration at lower redshifts; (c) scaled or unscaled versions of Cygnus A at any

The Local Group is now home to 102 known galaxies and candidates, with many new faintgalaxies continuing to be discovered. The total stellar mass range spanned by this population covers a factor of close to a billion, from the faintest systems with stellar masses of order a few thousand to the Milky Way and Andromeda, with stellar masses of order 1011 M ⊙. Here, I discuss the evidence for stellar halos surrounding Local Group galaxies spanning from dwarf scales (with the case of the Andromeda II dwarf spheroidal), though to intermediate mass systems (M33) and finishing with M31. Evidence of extended stellar populations and merging is seen across the luminosity function, indicating that the processes that lead to halo formation are common at all mass scales.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is under construction in Chile. At the start of the next decade, it will embark on a 10-year survey of the southern sky, with rapid public release of the data. The immense data set will vastly expand our ability to find faintgalaxies and study low-surface-brightness features in and around galaxies. It will enable studies of the multi-dimensional relationship between different galaxy propoerties, and ehance our ability to study the effects of environment and the evolution of those effects with lookback time. At the same time, other facilities like JWST, ALMA, and SKA and will expand our reach in the infrared and radio. This talk will outline some of the planning and challenges for LSST in the context of overall planning for the next decade.

We present a study of the Fundamental Plane (FP) for a sample of 71 dwarf galaxies in the core of the Coma cluster in the magnitude range -21 < MI < -15. Taking advantage of the high-resolution DEIMOS spectrograph on Keck II for measuring the internal velocity dispersion of galaxies and high-resolution imaging of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/ACS, which allows an accurate surface brightness modelling, we extend the FP of galaxies to luminosities of ˜1 mag fainter than all the previous studies of the FP in the Coma cluster. We find that the scatter about the FP depends on the faint-end luminosity cut-off, such that the scatter increases for fainter galaxies. The residual from the FP correlates with the galaxy colour, with bluer galaxies showing larger residuals from the FP. We find M/L ∝ M-0.15±0.22 in the F814W band, indicating that in faint dwarf ellipticals, the M/L ratio is insensitive to the mass. We find that less massive dwarf ellipticals are bluer than their brighter counterparts, possibly indicating ongoing star formation activity. Although tidal encounters and harassment can play a part in removing stars and dark matter from the galaxy, we believe that the dominant effect will be the stellar wind associated with the star formation, which will remove material from the galaxy, resulting in larger M/L ratios. We attribute the deviation of a number of faint blue dwarfs from the FP of brighter ellipticals to this effect. We also study other scaling relations involving galaxy photometric properties including the Photometric Plane. We show that compared to the FP, the scatter about the Photometric Plane is smaller at the faint end.

The evolution of galaxies in dense environments can be affected by close encounters with neighboring galaxies and interactions with the intracluster medium (ICM). Dwarf galaxies may be especially susceptible to these effects due to their low mass. The goal of my dissertation research is to look for signs of star formation in cluster dwarf galaxies by measuring and comparing the r- and u-band luminosity functions of 15 low redshift Abell galaxy clusters using archival data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Luminosity functions, dwarf-to-giant ratios, and blue fractions are measured in four cluster-centric annuli from stacked cluster data. To account for differences in cluster optical richness, each cluster is scaled according to r200, where r200 is the radius of a sphere, centered on the cluster, whose average density is 200 times the critical density of the universe. The outer region of the cluster sample shows an increase in the faint-end slope of the u-band luminosity function relative to the r-band, indicating star formation in dwarf galaxies. The blue fraction for dwarf galaxies steadily rises with increasing cluster-centric radii. The change in the blue fraction of giant galaxies also increases, but at a lower rate. Additionally, the inner regions of clusters ranging from 0.185 < z < 0.7 from the "Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH)" are used to generate blue- and red-band luminosity functions, dwarf-to-giant ratios, and blue fractions. Comparisons of the inner region of the CLASH and CFHT clusters show an increase in the blue fraction of dwarf galaxies with redshift that is not present in giant galaxies.

The formation, evolution and death of massive stars release large quantities of energy and momentum into the gas surrounding the sites of star formation. This process, generically termed 'feedback', inhibits further star formation either by removing gas from the galaxy, or by heating it to temperatures that are too high to form new stars. Observations reveal feedback in the form of galactic-scale outflows of gas in galaxies with high rates of star formation, especially in the early Universe. Feedback in faint, low-mass galaxies probably facilitated the escape of ionizing radiation from galaxies when the Universe was about 500 million years old, so that the hydrogen between galaxies changed from neutral to ionized-the last major phase transition in the Universe. PMID:26156371

Modeling the ablation of meteoroids as they enter the atmosphere is a way of determining their physical structure and elemental composition. This can provide insight into the structure of parent bodies when combined with an orbit computed from observations. The Canadian Automated Meteor Observatory (CAMO) is a source of new, high-resolution observations of faint meteors [1]. These faint objects tend to have pre-atmospheric masses around 10^{-5} kg, corresponding to a radius of 1 mm. A wide-field camera with a 28° field of view provides guidance to a high-resolution camera that tracks meteors in flight with 1.5° field of view. Meteors are recorded with a scale of 4 m per pixel at a range of 135 km, at 110 frames per second, allowing us to investigate detailed meteor morphology. This serves as an important new constraint for ablation models, in addition to meteor brightness (lightcurves) and meteoroid deceleration. High-resolution observations of faint meteors have revealed that contemporary ablation models are not able to predict meteor morphology, even while matching the observed lightcurve and meteoroid deceleration [2]. This implies that other physical processes, in addition to fragmentation, must be considered for faint meteor ablation. We present a new, particle-based approach to modeling the ablation of small meteoroids. In this model, we simulate the collisions between atmospheric particles and the meteoroid to determine the rate of evaporation and deceleration. Subsequent collisions simulated between evaporated meteoroid particles and ambient atmospheric particles then produce light that would be observed by high-resolution cameras. Preliminary results show simultaneous agreement with meteor morphology, lightcurves, and decelerations recorded with CAMO. A sample comparison of simulated and observed meteor morphology is given in the attached figure. Several meteoroids are well-represented as solid, stony bodies, but some require modeling as a dustball [3

Dwarf galaxies are typically very faint, and are therefore hard to find. Given that, what are our chances of finding their distant ancestors, located billions of light-years away? A recent study aims to find out.Ancient CounterpartsDwarf galaxies are a hot topic right now, especially as we discover more and more of them nearby. Besides being great places to investigate a variety of astrophysical processes, local group dwarf galaxies are also representative of the most common type of galaxy in the universe. For many of these dwarf galaxies, their low masses and typically old stellar populations suggest that most of their stars were formed early in the universes history, and further star formation was suppressed when the universe was reionized at redshifts of z ~ 610. If this is true, most dwarf galaxies are essentially fossils: theyve evolved little since that point.To test this theory, wed like to find counterparts to our local group dwarf galaxies at these higher redshifts of z = 6 or 7. But dwarf galaxies, since they dont exhibit lots of active star formation, have very low surface brightnesses making them very difficult to detect. What are the chances that current or future telescope sensitivities will allow us to detect these? Thats the question Anna Patej and Abraham Loeb, two theorists at Harvard University, have addressed in a recent study.Entering a New RegimeThe surface brightness vs. size for 73 local dwarf galaxies scaled back to redshifts of z=6 (top) and z=7 (bottom). So far weve been able to observe high-redshift galaxies within the boxed region of the parameter space. JWST will open the shaded region of the parameter space, which includes some of the dwarf galaxies. [Patej Loeb 2015]Starting from observational data for 87 Local-Group dwarf galaxies, Patej and Loeb used a stellar population synthesis code to evolve the galaxies backward in time to redshifts of z = 6 and 7. Next, they narrowed this sample to only those dwarfs for which most star

We present Very Large Array H I spectral line and optical imaging of eight optically compact (optical radii <1 kpc), star-forming dwarf galaxies. These galaxies were chosen because of their optically compact stellar distributions, faint blue magnitudes, ongoing star formation, and relative proximity. The sample includes ADBS 113845+2008, which was found to have an HI halo that extends nearly 40 optical scale lengths from the stellar body (Cannon et al. 2009). Using this larger sample, we are working to discern if the "giant gas disk" dwarf galaxy is common or rare. We are also exploring the kinematics and dark matter contents of each of the sample galaxies.

Massive galaxies harbor a supermassive black hole at their centers. At high redshifts, these galaxies experienced a very active quasar phase, when, as their black holes grew by accretion, they produced enormous amounts of energy. At the present epoch, these black holes still undergo occasional outbursts, although the mode of their energy release is primarily mechanical rather than radiative. The energy from these outbursts can reheat the cooling gas in the galaxy cores and maintain the red and dead nature of the early-type galaxies. These outbursts also can have dramatic effects on the galaxy-scale hot coronae found in the more massive galaxies. We describe research in three areas related to the hot gas around galaxies and their supermassive black holes. First we present examples of galaxies with AGN outbursts that have been studied in detail. Second, we show that X-ray emitting low-luminosity AGN are present in 80% of the galaxies studied. Third, we discuss the first examples of extensive hot gas and dark matter halos in optically faintgalaxies.

We have used 3D Voronoi tessellation to determine the environmental density of galaxies from a sample of the SDSS DR9 survey (0.02 < z < 0.1 and mr < 17.7). The sample was divided into two groups: bright central galaxies with Mr < -20.7 (N ~ 120000) and faint satellite galaxies with Mr > -20.7 (N~140000). We characterized the environmental density of the galaxies by the inverse volume of a Voronoi cell. We confirmed a tendency for an evolutionary decrease in the relative number of early galaxy types (with quenched star formation) with increasing redshift. It was also shown that the higher the density of environment near a central galaxy, it is more likely that the central galaxy has an early morphological type. The fraction of early types among the central galaxies is higher (78%) that among the sample of satellite galaxies (26%). In addition, the higher fraction of the central early-type galaxies in the sample, the higher their share in the denser environments.

UV radiation from massive stars is thought to be the dominant heating mechanism of the nuclear interstellar medium (ISM) in the late stages of evolution of starburst galaxies, creating large photodissociation regions (PDRs) and driving a very specific chemistry. We report the first detection of PDR molecular tracers, namely HOC{sup +} and CO{sup +}, and also confirm the detection of the PDR tracer HCO toward the starburst galaxy NGC 253, claimed to be mainly dominated by shock heating and in an earlier stage of evolution than M82, the prototypical extragalactic PDR. Our CO{sup +} detection suffers from significant blending to a group of transitions of {sup 13}CH{sub 3}OH, tentatively detected for the first time in the extragalactic ISM. These species are efficiently formed in the highly UV-irradiated outer layers of molecular clouds, as observed in the late stage nuclear starburst in M82. The molecular abundance ratios we derive for these molecules are very similar to those found in M82. This strongly supports the idea that these molecules are tracing the PDR component associated with the starburst in the nuclear region of NGC 253. The presence of large abundances of PDR molecules in the ISM of NGC 253, which is dominated by shock chemistry, clearly illustrates the potential of chemical complexity studies to establish the evolutionary state of starbursts in galaxies. A comparison with the predictions of chemical models for PDRs shows that the observed molecular ratios are tracing the outer layers of UV-illuminated clouds up to two magnitudes of visual extinction. We combine the column densities of PDR tracers reported in this paper with those of easily photodissociated species, such as HNCO, to derive the fraction of material in the well-shielded core relative to the UV-pervaded envelopes. Chemical models, which include grain formation and photodissociation of HNCO, support the scenario of a photo-dominated chemistry as an explanation to the abundances of the

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a region of the galaxy M100 shows a class of pulsating star called a Cepheid Variable. Though rare, these stars are reliable distance indicators to galaxies. Based on the Hubble observation, the distance to M100 has been measured accurately as 56 million light-years (+/- 6 million light-years), making it the farthest object where intergalactic distances have been determined precisely. Hubble's high resolution pinpoints a Cepheid, which is located in a starbirth region in one of the galaxy's spiral arms (bottom frame). The top three frames were taken on (from left to right) May 9, May 4, May 31, and they reveal that the star (in center of each box) changes brightness. Cepheids go through these changes rhythmically over a few weeks. The interval it takes for the Cepheid to complete one pulsation is a direct indication of the stars's intrinsic brightness. This value can be used to make a precise measurement of the galaxy's distance. Only Hubble Space Telescope has the required sensitivity and resolution to detect these 'cosmic milepost' type stars out to great distances from Earth, according to astronomers. Typically, Cepheids in a crowded region of a distant galaxy are too faint and the resolution too poor, as seen from ground-based telescopes, to be detected clearly. Hubble was used to make twelve one-hour exposures, timed carefully in a two-month observing window, to discover 20 Cepheid variable stars in the M100 galaxy. Though M100 is the most distant galaxy in which Cepheid variables have been discovered, HST must find Cepheids in even more distant galaxies before accurate distances can be used to calculate a definitive size and age for the universe. Technical Information: The Hubble Space Telescope image was taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC 2). This black and white picture was taken at visible light wavelengths. Target Information: M100 (100th object in the Messier catalog of non-stellar objects) is a

Supernovae are thought to arise from two different physical processes. The cores of massive, short-lived stars undergo gravitational core collapse and typically eject a few solar masses during their explosion. These are thought to appear as type Ib/c and type II supernovae, and are associated with young stellar populations. In contrast, the thermonuclear detonation of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, whose mass approaches the Chandrasekhar limit, is thought to produce type Ia supernovae. Such supernovae are observed in both young and old stellar environments. Here we report a faint type Ib supernova, SN 2005E, in the halo of the nearby isolated galaxy, NGC 1032. The 'old' environment near the supernova location, and the very low derived ejected mass ( approximately 0.3 solar masses), argue strongly against a core-collapse origin. Spectroscopic observations and analysis reveal high ejecta velocities, dominated by helium-burning products, probably excluding this as a subluminous or a regular type Ia supernova. We conclude that it arises from a low-mass, old progenitor, likely to have been a helium-accreting white dwarf in a binary. The ejecta contain more calcium than observed in other types of supernovae and probably large amounts of radioactive (44)Ti. PMID:20485429

In the lenticular galaxy NGC 1023 a third population of globular clusters (GCs), called faint fuzzies (FFs), was discovered next to the blue and red GC populations by Larsen and Brodie. While these FFs have colors comparable to the red population, the new population is fainter, larger (R{sub eff}>7 pc) and, most importantly, shows clear signs of corotation with the galactic disk of NGC 1023. We present N-body simulations verifying the hypothesis that these disk-associated FFs are related to the young massive cluster complexes (CCs) observed by Bastian et al. in M51, who discovered a mass-radius relation for these CCs. Our models have an initial configuration based on the observations from M51 and are placed on various orbits in a galactic potential derived for NGC 1023. All computations end up with a stable object containing 10%-60% of the initial CC mass after an integration time of 5 Gyr. A conversion to visual magnitudes demonstrates that the resulting objects cover exactly the observed range for FFs. Moreover, the simulated objects show projected half-mass radii between 3.6 and 13.4 pc, in good agreement with the observed FF sizes. We conclude that objects like the young massive CCs in M51 are likely progenitors of the FFs observed in NGC 1023.

We model the chemical evolution of six ultra-faint dwarfs (UFDs): Bootes I, Canes Venatici II, Coma Berenices, Hercules, Leo IV, and Ursa Major I based on their recently determined star formation histories. We show that two single-age bursts cannot explain the observed [α/Fe] versus [Fe/H] distribution in these galaxies and that some self-enrichment is required within the first burst. An alternative scenario is modeled, in which star formation is continuous except for short interruptions when one or more supernovae temporarily blow the dense gas out from the center of the system. This model allows for self-enrichment and can reproduce the chemical abundances of the UFDs in which the second burst is only a trace population. We conclude that the most likely star formation history is one or two extended periods of star formation, with the first burst lasting for at least 100 Myr. As found in earlier work, the observed properties of UFDs can be explained by formation at a low mass (M{sub vir}∼10{sup 7} M{sub ⊙}), rather than being stripped remnants of much larger systems.

Supernovae are thought to arise from two different physical processes. The cores of massive, short-lived stars undergo gravitational core collapse and typically eject a few solar masses during their explosion. These are thought to appear as type Ib/c and type II supernovae, and are associated with young stellar populations. In contrast, the thermonuclear detonation of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, whose mass approaches the Chandrasekhar limit, is thought to produce type Ia supernovae. Such supernovae are observed in both young and old stellar environments. Here we report a faint type Ib supernova, SN 2005E, in the halo of the nearby isolated galaxy, NGC 1032. The `old' environment near the supernova location, and the very low derived ejected mass (~0.3 solar masses), argue strongly against a core-collapse origin. Spectroscopic observations and analysis reveal high ejecta velocities, dominated by helium-burning products, probably excluding this as a subluminous or a regular type Ia supernova. We conclude that it arises from a low-mass, old progenitor, likely to have been a helium-accreting white dwarf in a binary. The ejecta contain more calcium than observed in other types of supernovae and probably large amounts of radioactive 44Ti.

UV and optical images of the central region and jet of the nearby elliptical galaxy M87 have been obtained with about 0.1 arcsec resolution in several spectral bands with the Faint Object Camera (FOC) on the HST, including polarization images. Deconvolution enhances the contrast of the complex structure and filamentary patterns in the jet already evident in the aberrated images. Morphologically there is close similarity between the FOC images of the extended jet and the best 2-cm radio maps obtained at similar resolution, and the magnetic field vectors from the UV and radio polarimetric data also correspond well. We observe structure in the inner jet within a few tenths arcsec of the nucleus which also has been well studied at radio wavelengths. Our UV and optical photometry of regions along the jet shows little variation in spectral index from the value 1.0 between markedly different regions and no trend to a steepening spectrum with distance along the jet.

We propose to observe a large sample of radio sources from the ATLAS (Australia Telescope Large Area Survey) source catalogue with the LBA, to determine their compactness. The sample consists of 36 sources with no counterpart in the co-located SWIRE survey (3.6 um to 160 um), carried out with the Spitzer Space Telescope. This rare class of sources, dubber Infrared-Faint Radio Sources (IFRS), is inconsistent with current galaxy evolution models. VLBI observations are an essential way to obtain further clues on what these objects are and why they are hidden from infrared observations. We will measure the flux densities on long baselines to determine their compactness. Only five IFRS have been previously targeted with VLBI observations (resulting in two detections). We propose using single baseline (Parkes-ATCA) eVLBI observations with the LBA at 1 Gbps to maximise sensitivity. With the observations proposed here we will increase the number of VLBI-observed IFRS from 5 to 36, allowing us to draw statistical conclusions about this intriguing new class of objects.

We propose to observe a large sample of radio sources from the ATLAS (Australia Telescope Large Area Survey) source catalogue with the LBA, to determine their compactness. The sample consists of 36 sources with no counterpart in the co-located SWIRE survey (3.6 um to 160 um), carried out with the Spitzer Space Telescope. This rare class of sources, dubber Infrared-Faint Radio Sources (IFRS), is inconsistent with current galaxy evolution models. VLBI observations are an essential way to obtain further clues on what these objects are and why they are hidden from infrared observations. We will measure the flux densities on long baselines to determine their compactness. Only five IFRS have been previously targeted with VLBI observations (resulting in two detections). We propose using single baseline (Parkes-ATCA) eVLBI observations with the LBA at 1 Gbps to maximise sensitivity. With the observations proposed here we will increase the number of VLBI-observed IFRS from 5 to 36, allowing us to draw statistical conclusions about this intriguing new class of objects.

We have analysed 18 ALMA continuum maps in Bands 6 and 7, with rms down to 7.8 μJy, to derive differential number counts down to 60 μJy and 100 μJy at λ = 1.3 mm and λ = 1.1 mm, respectively. Furthermore, the non-detection of faint sources in the deepest ALMA field enabled us to set tight upper limits on the number counts down to 30 μJy. This is a factor of four deeper than the currently most stringent upper limit. The area covered by the combined fields is 9.5 × 10-4 deg2 at 1.1 mm and 6.6 × 10-4 deg2 at 1.3 mm. With respect to previous works, we improved the source extraction method by requiring that the dimension of the detected sources be consistent with the beam size. This method enabled us to remove spurious detections that have plagued the purity of the catalogues in previous studies. We detected 50 faint sources (at fluxes <1 mJy) with signal-to-noise (S/N) >3.5 down to 60 μJy, hence improving the statistics by a factor of four relative to previous studies. The inferred differential number counts are dN/ d(Log10S) = 1 × 105 deg2 at a 1.1 mm flux Sλ = 1.1 mm = 130 μJy, and dN/ d(Log10S) = 1.1 × 105 deg2 at a 1.3 mm flux Sλ = 1.3 mm = 60 μJy. At the faintest flux limits probed by our data, i.e. 30 μJy and 40 μJy, we obtain upper limits on the differential number counts of dN/ d(Log10S) < 7 × 105 deg2 and dN/ d(Log10S) < 3 × 105 deg2, respectively. Determining the fraction of cosmic infrared background (CIB) resolved by the ALMA observations was hampered by the large uncertainties plaguing the CIB measurements (a factor of four in flux). However, our results provide a new lower limit to CIB intensity of 17.2 Jy deg-2 at 1.1 mm and of 12.9 Jy deg-2 at 1.3 mm. Moreover, the flattening of the integrated number counts at faint fluxes strongly suggests that we are probably close to the CIB intensity. Our data imply that galaxies with star formation rate (SFR) < 40 M⊙/yr certainly contribute less than 50% to the CIB (and probably a much lower

Galaxy masses play a fundamental role in our understanding of structure formation models. This review addresses the variety and reliability of mass estimators that pertain to stars, gas, and dark matter. The different sections on masses from stellar populations, dynamical masses of gas-rich and gas-poor galaxies, with some attention paid to our Milky Way, and masses from weak and strong lensing methods all provide review material on galaxy masses in a self-consistent manner.

Context. Establishing the number of faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z = 4-6 is crucial to understanding their cosmological importance as main contributors to the reionization of the Universe. Aims: In order to derive the AGN contribution to the cosmological ionizing emissivity we have selected faint AGN candidates at z> 4 in the CANDELS GOODS-South field, which is one of the deepest fields with extensive multiwavelength coverage from Chandra, HST, Spitzer, and various ground-based telescopes. Methods: We have adopted a relatively novel criterion. As a first step, high redshift galaxies are selected in the NIR H band down to very faint levels (H ≤ 27) using reliable photometric redshifts. At z> 4 this corresponds to a selection criterion based on the galaxy rest-frame UV flux. AGN candidates are then picked up from this parent sample if they show X-ray fluxes above a threshold of FX ˜ 1.5 × 10-17 erg cm-2 s-1 (0.5-2 keV), corresponding to a probability of spurious detections of 2 × 10-4 in the deep X-ray 4 Ms Chandra image. Results: We have found 22 AGN candidates at z> 4 and we have derived the first estimate of the UV luminosity function in the redshift interval 4 galaxies. The faint end of the derived luminosity function is about two to four magnitudes fainter at z ˜ 4-6 than that derived from previous UV surveys. We estimated ionizing emissivities and hydrogen photoionization rates in the same redshift interval under reasonable assumptions and after discussion of possible caveats, the most important being the large uncertainties involved in the estimate of photometric redshift for sources with featureless, almost power-law SEDs and/or low average escape fraction of ionizing photons from the AGN host galaxies. Both effects could, in principle, significantly reduce the estimated average volume densities and/or ionizing emissivities, especially at the highest

Dwarf galaxies in the Local Group are key probes of both dark matter and galaxy formation. They are the smallest, oldest, most dark matter-dominated, and least chemically enriched stellar systems currently known. However, despite two decades of major computational, theoretical, and observational advances in this field, we are still working toward a complete understanding of star and galaxy formation at the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. In the last year, large sky surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey and Pan-STARRS have made an unprecedented series of discoveries, nearly doubling the population of Milky Way satellite galaxies that was known at the start of 2015. This increase in the number of nearby dwarfs may significantly improve the sensitivity of searches for dark matter annihilation radiation. Many of these new dwarfs are likely to have originated as satellites of the Magellanic Clouds, providing a unique opportunity to study the effect of galactic environment on the formation of the faintest dwarfs. I will provide an overview of recent discoveries and how they fit in to the previously known population of nearby dwarf galaxies, highlighting a few of the most interesting objects from the perspective of dark matter and stellar nucleosynthesis.

We study the clustering properties of the first galaxies formed in the universe. We find that, due to chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium by isolated Population III stars formed in mini-halos at redshift z {approx_gt} 30, the (chronologically) first galaxies are composed of metal-poor Population II stars and are highly clustered on small scales. In contrast, chemically pristine galaxies in halos with mass M {approx} 10{sup 8} M{sub sun} may form at z < 20 in relatively underdense regions of the universe. This occurs once self-enrichment by Population III in mini-halos is quenched by the buildup of an H{sub 2} photodissociating radiative background in the Lyman-Werner bands. We find that these chemically pristine galaxies are spatially uncorrelated. Thus, we expect that deep fields with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may detect clusters of chemically enriched galaxies but individual chemically pristine objects. We predict that metal-free galaxies at 10 {approx}< z {approx}< 15 have surface densities of about 80 arcmin{sup -2} and per unit redshift but most of them will be too faint even for JWST. However, the predicted density makes these objects interesting targets for searches behind lensing clusters.

We study several statistical properties of galaxies in four poor clusters of galaxies using multi-color optical photometry obtained at the Vainu Bappu Telescope, India. The clusters, selected from the EMSS Catalog, are at moderate redshifts (0.08 < z < 0.25), of equivalent Abell richness R=0, and appear to be dynamically young. The early-type galaxy populations are clearly evolved, as traced by the tightness of the color-magnitude relations and the accordance of the latter with those of the Virgo cluster. The blue galaxy fractions are similar to those of R=0 clusters and higher than those of richer clusters at similar redshifts. The composite luminosity functions (LFs) in B, V, and R bands are flat at the faint end, similar to the V-band LF derived by Yamagata & Maehara for other (MKW/AWM) poor clusters but steeper than the R-band field LF derived by Lin et al. In terms of the statistical properties of their member galaxies, poor clusters appear to be lower-mass extensions of their rich counterparts. The brightest galaxies of three of these poor clusters appear to be luminous ellipticals with no incontrovertible signatures of a halo. It is likely that they were formed from multiple mergers early in the history of the clusters.

Hydrogen in the Universe was (re)ionized between redshifts z ≈ 10 and z ≈ 6. The nature of the sources of the ionizing radiation is hotly debated, with faintgalaxies below current detection limits regarded as prime candidates. Here, we consider a scenario in which ionizing photons escape through channels punctured in the interstellar medium by outflows powered by starbursts. We take account of the observation that strong outflows occur only when the star formation density is sufficiently high, and estimate the galaxy-averaged escape fraction as a function of redshift and luminosity from the resolved star formation surface densities in the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We find that the fraction of ionizing photons that escape from galaxies increases rapidly with redshift, reaching values of 5-20 per cent at z > 6, with the brighter galaxies having higher escape fractions. Combining the dependence of escape fraction on luminosity and redshift with the observed luminosity function, we demonstrate that galaxies emit enough ionizing photons to match the existing constraints on reionization while also matching the observed ultraviolet-background post-reionization. Our findings suggest that galaxies above the current Hubble Space Telescope detection limit emit half of the ionizing radiation required to reionize the Universe.

We present a recalibration of the luminosity-metallicity relation for gas-rich, star-forming dwarfs to magnitudes as faint as M{sub R} ∼ –13. We use the Dopita et al. metallicity calibrations to calibrate the relation for all the data in this analysis. In metallicity-luminosity space, we find two subpopulations within a sample of high-confidence Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR8 star-forming galaxies: 52% are metal-rich giants and 48% are metal-medium galaxies. Metal-rich dwarfs classified as tidal dwarf galaxy (TDG) candidates in the literature are typically of metallicity 12 + log(O/H) = 8.70 ± 0.05, while SDSS dwarfs fainter than M{sub R} = –16 have a mean metallicity of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.28 ± 0.10, regardless of their luminosity, indicating that there is an approximate floor to the metallicity of low-luminosity galaxies. Our hydrodynamical simulations predict that TDGs should have metallicities elevated above the normal luminosity-metallicity relation. Metallicity can therefore be a useful diagnostic for identifying TDG candidate populations in the absence of tidal tails. At magnitudes brighter than M{sub R} ∼ –16, our sample of 53 star-forming galaxies in 9 H I gas-rich groups is consistent with the normal relation defined by the SDSS sample. At fainter magnitudes, there is an increase in dispersion of the metallicity of our sample, suggestive of a wide range of H I content and environment. In our sample, we identify three (16% of dwarfs) strong TDG candidates (12 + log(O/H) > 8.6) and four (21%) very metal-poor dwarfs (12 + log(O/H) < 8.0), which are likely gas-rich dwarfs with recently ignited star formation.

This image is a Galaxy Evolution Explorer observation of the large galaxy in Andromeda, Messier 31. The Andromeda galaxy is the most massive in the local group of galaxies that includes our Milky Way. Andromeda is the nearest large galaxy to our own. The image is a mosaic of 10 separate Galaxy Evolution Explorer images taken in September, 2003. The color image (with near ultraviolet shown by red and far ultraviolet shown by blue) shows blue regions of young, hot, high mass stars tracing out the spiral arms where star formation is occurring, and the central orange-white 'bulge' of old, cooler stars formed long ago. The star forming arms of Messier 31 are unusual in being quite circular rather than the usual spiral shape. Several companion galaxies can also be seen. These include Messier 32, a dwarf elliptical galaxy directly below the central bulge and just outside the spiral arms, and Messier 110 (M110), which is above and to the right of the center. M110 has an unusual far ultraviolet bright core in an otherwise 'red,' old star halo. Many other regions of star formation can be seen far outside the main body of the galaxy.

I have analyzed deep R- and B-band CCD images of the central ~ 700 arcmin(2) of the Coma cluster (Abell 1656, v = 7000 km/s, richness-class 2), using a statistically rigorous and automated method for the detection, photometry and classification of faint objects on digital images. The dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies are confined to a well-defined sequence in the color range given by 0.7 <= (B-R) <= 1.9 mag; within this interval and complete to R = 22.5 mag, there are 2535 dE candidates in the cluster core, and 694 objects on the associated control field (2.57x less area). I detected a significant metallicity gradient in the radial distribution of dE galaxies, which goes as Z ~ R(-0.32) outwards from the cluster center at NGC 4874. As well, there is a strong color-luminosity correlation, in the sense that more luminous dE galaxies are redder in the mean. These observations are consistent with a model in which the intracluster gas exerted a confinement pressure (greatest near the cluster core), impeding the outflow of supernovae-driven metal-rich gas from the young dE galaxies. The spatial distribution of faint dEs is well fit by a standard King model with a core radius R_c = 18.7 arcmin ( =~ 0.44 Mpc), significantly larger than found for the brightest dEs and giant cluster galaxies, and consistent with tidal disruption of faint dEs in the dense cluster core. The composite luminosity function for Coma galaxies was modeled as the sum of a log-normal distribution for the giant galaxies and a Schechter function for the dE galaxies. Decomposing the galaxy luminosity function in this manner, I found that the early-type dwarf-to-giant ratio (EDGR) for the Coma cluster core is identical with that of the Virgo cluster. I proposed that the presence of substructure is an important factor in determining the cluster's EDGR, since during the merger of two or more richness-class 1 galaxy clusters, the total number of dwarf and giant galaxies will be conserved. Thus, this low EDGR

Aims: We aim to better understand the imprints that the nuclear activity in galaxies leaves in the molecular gas. Methods: We used the IRAM 30 m telescope to observe the frequency range ~[86-116] GHz towards the central regions of the starburst galaxies M 83, M82, and NGC 253, the galaxies hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN) M 51, NGC 1068, and NGC 7469, and the ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) Arp 220 and Mrk 231. Assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), we calculated the column densities of 27 molecules and 10 isotopologues (or their upper limits in case of non-detections). Results: Among others, we report the first tentative detections of CH3CHO, HNCO, and NS in M82 and, for the first time in the extragalactic medium, HC5N in NGC 253. Hα recombination lines were only found in M82 and NGC 253. Vibrationally excited lines of HC3N were only detected in Arp 220. CH3CCH emission is only seen in the starburst-dominated galaxies. By comparison of the fractional abundances among the galaxies, we looked for the molecules that are best suited to characterise the chemistry of each group of galaxies (starbursts, AGNs and ULIRGs), as well as the differences among galaxies within the same group. Conclusions: Suitable species for characterising and comparing starburst galaxies are CH3OH and HNCO as tracers of large-scale shocks, which dominate early to intermediate starburst stages, and CH3CCH, c-C3H2, and HCO as tracers of UV fields, which control the intermediate-to-old or post starburst phases. M 83 shows signs of a shock-dominated environment. NGC 253 is characterised by both strong shocks and some UV fields. M82 stands out for its bright photo-dissociated region tracers, which indicate an UV field-dominated environment. Regarding AGNs, the abundances of HCN and CN (previously claimed as enhanced in AGNs) in M 51 are similar to those in starburst galaxies, while the HCN/HCO+ ratio is high in M 51 and NGC 1068, but not in NGC 7469. We did not find

Recent observations have revealed the existence of an abundant population of faint, low surface brightness (SB) galaxies, which appear to be numerous and ubiquitous in nearby galaxy clusters, including the Virgo, Coma and Fornax clusters. With median stellar masses of dwarf galaxies, these ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) have unexpectedly large sizes, corresponding to a mean SB of 24 ≲ r mag-1 arcsec2 ≲ 27 within the effective radius. We show that the UDG population represents the tail of galaxies formed in dwarf-sized haloes with higher-than-average angular momentum. By adopting the standard model of disc formation - in which the size of galaxies is set by the spin of the halo - we recover both the abundance of UDGs as a function of the host cluster mass and the distribution of sizes within the UDG population. According to this model, UDGs are not failed L* galaxies, but genuine dwarfs, and their low SB is not uniquely connected to the harsh cluster environment. We therefore expect a correspondingly abundant population of UDGs in the field, with possibly different morphologies and colours.

The Diffuse Ionized Medium (DIG) is visible through its faint optical line emission outside classical HII regions (Reynolds 1971) and turns out to be a major component of the interstellar medium in galaxies. OB stars in galaxies likely represent the main source of ionizing photons for the DIG. However, an additional source is needed to explain the increase of [NII]/Hα, [SII]/Hα with galactic height.

We present 21 cm H i observations of four Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) with evidence for a substantial intragroup medium using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). By mapping H i emission in a region of 25‧ × 25‧ (140–650 kpc) surrounding each HCG, these observations provide better estimates of H i masses. In particular, we detected 65% more H i than that detected in the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) imaging of HCG 92. We also identify whether the diffuse gas has the same spatial distribution as the high surface brightness (HSB) H i features detected in the VLA maps of these groups by comparing the H i strengths between the observed and modeled masses based on VLA maps. We found that the H i observed with the GBT has a similar spatial distribution to the HSB structures in HCG 31 and HCG 68. Conversely, the observed H i distributions in HCG 44 and HCG 92 were extended and showed significant offsets from the modeled masses. Most of the faint gas in HCG 44 lies to the northeast–southwest region and in HCG 92 lies in the northwest region of their respective groups. The spatial and dynamical similarities between the total (faint+HSB) and the HSB H i indicate that the faint gas is of tidal origin. We found that the gas will survive ionization by the cosmic UV background and the escaping ionizing photons from the star-forming regions and stay primarily neutral for at least 500 Myr.

A 1/4 meter ultraviolet spectrometer, developed to measure the ultraviolet flux from several standard type stars was flown successfully on Aerobee rockets. The ultraviolet flux from alpha Lyr, eta U Ma, zeta Oph, delta Ori, alpha CMa, beta CMa, and alpha Leo were measured. These values agreed with the OAO data obtained by Code in the 1200 to 3400 A region to + or - 9%. The design and calibration of a faint object spectrometer for observing stars and nebula with a 3 A resolution and a 3% accuracy in a 60 second observation are discussed.

CCD time-resolved photometry in V, B, and near-IR for 17 faint cataclysmic variables (CVs) is presented and analyzed. The data are obtained at Kitt Peak National Observatory, the Perkins reflector, Lowell Observatory, and the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos from April-June 1989. The degree of variability and periodicities for the CVs are examined. It is observed that the variability of most of the stars is consistent with CV class behavior. Orbital periods for five CVs are determined, and three potential eclipsing systems are detected.

Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are objects which are strong at radio wavelengths but undetected in sensitive Spitzer observations at infrared wavelengths. Their nature is uncertain and most have not yet been associated with any known astrophysical object. One possibility is that they are radio pulsars. To test this hypothesis we undertook observations of 16 of these sources with the Parkes Radio Telescope. Our results limit the radio emission to a pulsed flux density of less than 0.21 mJy (assuming a 50 per cent duty cycle). This is well below the flux density of the IFRS. We therefore conclude that these IFRS are not radio pulsars.

The Faint Object Camera (FOC), one of the four axial scientific instruments located at the focal plane of the NASA Space Telescope, is described. The FOC has overall dimensions of approximately 0.9 x 0.9 x 2.2 cu m, a total weight of about 322 kg, and an average power consumption per orbit of less than 150 W. The FOC is made up of two complete and independent camera systems, each with its dedicated three mirrors optical relay and photon detector device operating in a wavelength range of 1200 A to 7000 A.

By spying on a neighboring galaxy, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a young, globular-like star cluster -- a type of object unknown in our Milky Way Galaxy.

The image, taken by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, is online at http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/25 and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wfpc. The camera was designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The double cluster NGC 1850 lies in a neighboring satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. It has two relatively young components. The main, globular-like cluster is in the center. A smaller cluster is seen below and to the right, composed of extremely hot, blue stars and fainter red T-Tauri stars. The main cluster is about 50 million years old; the smaller one is 4 million years old.

A filigree pattern of diffuse gas surrounds NGC 1850. Scientists believe the pattern formed millions of years ago when massive stars in the main cluster exploded as supernovas.

Hubble can observe a range of star types in NGC 1850, including the faint, low-mass T-Tauri stars, which are difficult to distinguish with ground-based telescopes. Hubble's fine angular resolution can pick out these stars, even in other galaxies. Massive stars of the OB type emit large amounts of energetic ultraviolet radiation, which is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. From Hubble's position above the atmosphere, it can detect this ultraviolet light.

NGC 1850, the brightest star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is in the southern constellation of Dorado, called the Goldfish or the Swordfish. This image was created from five archival exposures taken by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 between April 3, 1994 and February 6, 1996. More information about the Hubble Space Telescope is online at http://www.stsci.edu. More information about the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 is at http://wfpc2.jpl.nasa.gov.

A new wide-field image released today by ESO displays many thousands of distant galaxies, and more particularly a large group belonging to the massive galaxy cluster known as Abell 315. As crowded as it may appear, this assembly of galaxies is only the proverbial "tip of the iceberg", as Abell 315 - like most galaxy clusters - is dominated by dark matter. The huge mass of this cluster deflects light from background galaxies, distorting their observed shapes slightly. When looking at the sky with the unaided eye, we mostly only see stars within our Milky Way galaxy and some of its closest neighbours. More distant galaxies are just too faint to be perceived by the human eye, but if we could see them, they would literally cover the sky. This new image released by ESO is both a wide-field and long-exposure one, and reveals thousands of galaxies crowding an area on the sky roughly as large as the full Moon. These galaxies span a vast range of distances from us. Some are relatively close, as it is possible to distinguish their spiral arms or elliptical halos, especially in the upper part of the image. The more distant appear just like the faintest of blobs - their light has travelled through the Universe for eight billion years or more before reaching Earth. Beginning in the centre of the image and extending below and to the left, a concentration of about a hundred yellowish galaxies identifies a massive galaxy cluster, designated with the number 315 in the catalogue compiled by the American astronomer George Abell in 1958 [1]. The cluster is located between the faint, red and blue galaxies and the Earth, about two billion light-years away from us. It lies in the constellation of Cetus (the Whale). Galaxy clusters are some of the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity. But there is more in these structures than the many galaxies we can see. Galaxies in these giants contribute to only ten percent of the mass, with hot gas in between galaxies

This thesis presents a study of the radio luminosity function and the evolution of galaxies in the Abell 2256 cluster (z=0.058, richness class 2). Using the NED database and VLA deep data with an rms sensitivity of 18 mu Jy.beam--1, we identified 257 optical galaxies as members of A2256, of which 83 are radio galaxies. Since A2256 is undergoing a cluster-cluster merger, it is a good candidate to study the radio activity of galaxies in the cluster. We calculated the Univariate and Bivariate radio luminosity functions for A2256, and compared the results to studies on other clusters. We also used the SDSS parameter fracDev to roughly classify galaxies as spirals and ellipticals, and investigated the distribution and structure of galaxies in the cluster. We found that most of the radio galaxies in A2256 are faint, and are distributed towards the outskirts of the cluster. On the other hand, almost all very bright radio galaxies are ellipticals which are located at the center of the cluster. We also found there is an excess in the number of radio spiral galaxies in A2256 compared to the number of radio ellipticals, counting down to a radio luminosity of log(luminosity)=20.135 W/Hz..

We present a method to build mock galaxy catalogues starting from a halo catalogue that uses halo occupation distribution (HOD) recipes as well as the subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) technique. Combining both prescriptions we are able to push the absolute magnitude of the resulting catalogue to fainter luminosities than using just the SHAM technique and can interpret our results in terms of the HOD modelling. We optimize the method by populating with galaxies friends-of-friends dark matter haloes extracted from the Marenostrum Institut de Ciències de l'Espai dark matter simulations and comparing them to observational constraints. Our resulting mock galaxy catalogues manage to reproduce the observed local galaxy luminosity function and the colour-magnitude distribution as observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. They also reproduce the observed galaxy clustering properties as a function of luminosity and colour. In order to achieve that, the algorithm also includes scatter in the halo mass-galaxy luminosity relation derived from direct SHAM and a modified Navarro-Frenk-White mass density profile to place satellite galaxies in their host dark matter haloes. Improving on general usage of the HOD that fits the clustering for given magnitude limited samples, our catalogues are constructed to fit observations at all luminosities considered and therefore for any luminosity subsample. Overall, our algorithm is an economic procedure of obtaining galaxy mock catalogues down to faint magnitudes that are necessary to understand and interpret galaxy surveys.

We investigate the small-scale conformity in color between bright galaxies and their faint companions in the Virgo Cluster. Cluster member galaxies are spectroscopically determined using the Extended Virgo Cluster Catalog and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12. We find that the luminosity-weighted mean color of faintgalaxies depends on the color of adjacent bright galaxy as well as on the cluster-scale environment (gravitational potential index). From this result for the entire area of the Virgo Cluster, it is not distinguishable whether the small-scale conformity is genuine or if it is artificially produced due to cluster-scale variation of galaxy color. To disentangle this degeneracy, we divide the Virgo Cluster area into three sub-areas so that the cluster-scale environmental dependence is minimized: A1 (central), A2 (intermediate), and A3 (outermost). We find conformity in color between bright galaxies and their faint companions (color–color slope significance S ˜ 2.73σ and correlation coefficient {cc}˜ 0.50) in A2, where the cluster-scale environmental dependence is almost negligible. On the other hand, the conformity is not significant or very marginal (S ˜ 1.75σ and {cc}˜ 0.27) in A1. The conformity is not significant either in A3 (S ˜ 1.59σ and {cc}˜ 0.44), but the sample size is too small in this area. These results are consistent with a scenario in which the small-scale conformity in a cluster is a vestige of infallen groups and these groups lose conformity as they come closer to the cluster center.

We investigate the small-scale conformity in color between bright galaxies and their faint companions in the Virgo Cluster. Cluster member galaxies are spectroscopically determined using the Extended Virgo Cluster Catalog and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12. We find that the luminosity-weighted mean color of faintgalaxies depends on the color of adjacent bright galaxy as well as on the cluster-scale environment (gravitational potential index). From this result for the entire area of the Virgo Cluster, it is not distinguishable whether the small-scale conformity is genuine or if it is artificially produced due to cluster-scale variation of galaxy color. To disentangle this degeneracy, we divide the Virgo Cluster area into three sub-areas so that the cluster-scale environmental dependence is minimized: A1 (central), A2 (intermediate), and A3 (outermost). We find conformity in color between bright galaxies and their faint companions (color–color slope significance S ∼ 2.73σ and correlation coefficient {cc}∼ 0.50) in A2, where the cluster-scale environmental dependence is almost negligible. On the other hand, the conformity is not significant or very marginal (S ∼ 1.75σ and {cc}∼ 0.27) in A1. The conformity is not significant either in A3 (S ∼ 1.59σ and {cc}∼ 0.44), but the sample size is too small in this area. These results are consistent with a scenario in which the small-scale conformity in a cluster is a vestige of infallen groups and these groups lose conformity as they come closer to the cluster center.

Double-lobe radio galaxies in the local Universe have traditionally been found to be hosted in elliptical or lenticular galaxies. We report the discovery of four spiral-host double-lobe radio galaxies (J0836+0532, J1159+5820, J1352+3126, and J1649+2635) that are discovered by cross-matching a large sample of 187 005 spiral galaxies from SDSS DR7 (Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7) to the full catalogues of FIRST (Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm) and NVSS (NRAO VLA Sky Survey). J0836+0532 is reported for the first time. The host galaxies are forming stars at an average rate of 1.7-10 M⊙ yr-1 and possess supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses of a few times 108 M⊙. Their radio morphologies are similar to Fanaroff-Riley type II radio galaxies with total projected linear sizes ranging from 86 to 420 kpc, but their total 1.4-GHz radio luminosities are only in the range 1024-1025 W Hz-1. We propose that the formation of spiral-host double-lobe radio galaxies can be attributed to more than one factor, such as the occurrence of strong interactions, mergers, and the presence of unusually massive SMBHs, such that the spiral structures are not destroyed. Only one of our sources (J1649+2635) is found in a cluster environment, indicating that processes other than accretion through cooling flows e.g. galaxy-galaxy mergers or interactions could be plausible scenarios for triggering radio-loud active galactic nuclei activity in spiral galaxies.

Emission-line velocity widths have been determined for 17 faint (B approximately 20-23) very blue, compact galaxies whose redshifts range from z = 0.095 to 0.66. The spectra have a resolution of 8 Km/s and were taken with the HIRES echelle spectrograph of the Keck 10 m telescope. The galaxies are luminous with all but two within 1 mag of M(sub B) approximately -21. Yet they exhibit narrow velocity widths between sigma = 28-157 km/s, more consistent with typical values of extreme star-forming galaxies than with those of nearby spiral galaxies of similar luminosity. In particular, objects with sigma is less than or equal to 65 km/s follow the same correlations between sigma and both blue and H beta luminosities as those of nearby H II galaxies. These results strengthen the identification of H II glaxies as thier local counterparts. The blue colors and strong emission lines suggest these compact galaxies are undergoing a recent, strong burst of star formation. Like those which characterize some H II galaxies, this burst could be a nuclear star-forming event within a much larger, older stellar population. If the burst is instead a major episode in the total star-forming history, these distant galaxies could fade enough to match the low luminosities and surface brightnesses typical of nearby spheroidals like NGC 185 or NGC 205. Together with evidence for recent star formation, exponential light profiles, and subsolar metallicities, the postfading correlations between luminosity and velocity width and bewtween luminosity and surface brightness suggest that among the low-sigma galaxies, we may be witnessing, in situ, the progenitors of today's spheroidal galaxies.

The high sensitivity of large format InSb arrays can be used to obtain deep images of the sky at 3-5 micrometers. In this spectral range cool or highly redshifted objects (e.g. brown dwarfs and protogalaxies) which are not visible at shorter wavelengths may be observed. Sensitivity at these wavelengths in ground-based observations is severly limited by the ther